CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.— Three friends of an alleged victim of a gang rape at a University of Virginia frat house told The Associated Press that a magazine article that used the woman’s attack to paint a picture of a culture of sexual violence on college campuses was wrong on a number of key points: most important that they didn’t encourage her to report the attack and that they were more concerned about their reputations than her well-being.
One of the friends, a 20-year-old, third-year student referred to as “Randall” in the Rolling Stone article but whose real name is Ryan Duffin, told the AP that not only did he encourage the alleged victim to go to police, but he started to dial 9-1-1 on his cellphone until she begged off saying she just wanted to go back to her dorm and go to sleep.
“I couldn’t help but notice that everything that the article said about me was incorrect,” Duffin said.
The Rolling Stone article set off an intense debate about sexual violence, alcohol, fraternities and journalism ethics.
The Associated Press also spoke with the other two friends portrayed in the article: third-year, 20-year-old U.Va. students Kathryn Hendley and Alex Stock, known as “Cindy” and “Andy” in the article. None of the three friends was contacted by the Rolling Stone’s reporter, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, before the article was published; each of them rejected multiple assertions made in the article, which has since been retracted.
All three say Erdely has since reached out to them, and Hendley told the AP Erdely apologized to her for portraying her the way she did.
The three friends say they continue to work on correcting the record about what happened that night, and at least one, Duffin, wonders to what extent he believes the victim’s own version of what happened — or whether any discrepancies in her story matter.
