Flickr user Bernard GThis photo shows Rugby Field and various fraternity houses at the University of Virginia campus. In a thoroughly questioned Rolling Stone article, unnamed fraternity members were accused of participating in a brutal gang rape. The fallout from that article continues. After nearly two months of controversy over accusations of widespread sexual violence at the University of Virginia and a temporary freeze on all fraternity activities, Vice President Patricia M. Lampkin sent an email to students Sunday outlining new campus safety measures and advising students to guard their classmates' well-being, as a new semester gets underway.
"We faced many challenges in the fall semester, and a new semester now offers the opportunity to move forward – not to ignore still-unresolved issues but to meet them with a renewed sense of purpose," Lampkin wrote in the email. "While you were gone, work continued here at the University on a number of initiatives aimed at improving the safety of our community."
Following a November Rolling Stone article that described the brutal gang rape of a student and a "culture of hidden sexual violence," fraternity and sorority activities were immediately suspended and university officials hired a law firm to conduct an independent investigation into the horrific acts described in the article. The article has since been thoroughly scrutinized, and many of the allegations it made questioned. Nonetheless, U.Va. officials have admitted -- and federal investigations have suggested -- that the school does in fact have an issue with sexual violence on campus. The ban on fraternities was lifted last week, but Sunday's email suggests students may be looking ahead to a winter semester of subdued Greek activities.
In response to the violence problem, the email says the university created the "Green Dot" initiative, which brought together "150 students, faculty, and staff engaged in four days of training" last week.
"They will serve as the core implementation team to champion and reduce violence within our University culture," the email says. These students will be "reaching out in numerous ways to involve everyone within the community over time. Green Dot is based on the belief that the actions of one individual, multiplied many times over by other individuals, can bring about true change."
In addition, the email says "a temporary police substation" has been added to the somewhat notorious on-campus neighborhood dubbed the "Corner." The small grey building will "help increase police visibility while providing a location for officers to meet with community members and to carry out administrative duties." The substation will be operational on Jan. 15 with a permanent substation to follow.
The email urges students to be vigilant against student misbehavior. "Speak up if you see something wrong," Lampkin writes. "Ask for help if you aren’t sure how to do these things. Continue to ask hard questions. Your leadership, and your small daily actions, will make a difference as we all strive to make our community even better."
The 1,199-word email also spends some 422 words discussing how to avoid getting the flu. It's appended here in full.
Stroud is a reporter for Bloomberg News.
