Police said Monday that they’ve been unable to confirm that an alleged gang rape occurred at a University of Virginia fraternity house as described in a Rolling Stone article, and the school announced that it reinstated the group and its activities.
U.Va. said in a statement that the decision to reinstate Phi Kappa Psi was made after consulting with the Charlottesville Police Department. The Rolling Stone article described in graphic detail an alleged gang rape of a student at the Phi Kappa Psi house in 2012.
“The statement reads that we did not find any substantive basis to confirm the allegations occurred at Phi Kappa Psi, not that we said the assault did not occur. We are still investigating,” Charlottesville Police Capt. Gary Pleasants said in an email to The Associated Press.
After the article was published in November, the magazine issued a statement noting discrepancies in the story and apologizing.
Still, campus and fraternity leaders were put under pressure to adopt reforms, and police launched an investigation into the alleged assault at the request of the university. Pleasants said university officials were not presented a written report but were updated on the investigation via a telephone call.
“We just didn’t find any reasons to keep sanctions on that particular fraternity right now,” Pleasants told the AP in a telephone interview.
The school temporarily suspended fraternities’ and sororities’ social activities while administrators vowed to take an extensive look at improving safety on campus.
