I am moderately sympathetic toward Ms. Eramo, because she is an alumna of the University of Virginia and is inculcated in the culture of the school. I didn't know how ill she had been, either, until after the trial, and I am very sympathetic toward her for that, but what she ought to do is cordially take the money that the jury told Rolling Stone to pay her and stop attacking the magazine. She has no reason to tour the country or grant interviews to media organizations, talking about how much the article hurt her and setting Rolling Stone up to lose to Phi Kappa Psi next year.
I did not have to offer Ms. Eramo one shred of help for her side of the case. It seems to me that she could have lost, and I advocated for the case to be settled without that happening, which I certainly didn't have to do.
Rolling Stone was told by the University of Virginia that Ms. Eramo could not give an interview before the article was published, so Rolling Stone did not have to publish Ms. Eramo's name and picture in the article. As far as I'm concerned, that unnecessary printing of Ms. Eramo's name and picture was Ms. Eramo's only claim to restitution.
The 20/20 broadcast from October 14, 2016, right before the trial, starts by saying that Jackie "doesn't tell police" about being raped, and even has the former chief of the Charlottesville Police Department asking why he had to find out about the assault from a magazine. That was used by ABC as supposed proof that the Rolling Stone article was false, but part of what Clare Locke accused Ms. Erdely and Rolling Stone of doing was omitting Jackie's report of sexual assault to the police to try to portray Ms. Eramo and the school as not having taken appropriate steps after Jackie told the school that she was raped.
These are pictures of part of Ms. Erdely's June 30, 2016 court filing:
Jackie was bullied by the Charlottesville Police Department every time that she talked to that police department, and then the police department characterized her as being "uncooperative." It also seems that, while Ms. Erdely was investigating before the article was published, the Charlottesville Police Department neglected to inform Ms. Erdely that Jackie had ever reported being sexually assaulted to the police, which is exactly what a police department that helps a university to falsely report low rape statistics would do.
The Charlottesville Police Department, the University of Virginia, and the Greek system have all colluded together for years to discredit rape victims and to protect serial rapists who are also students.
One of the many sickening things about what has happened to the Rolling Stone article is that every media source that attacks the article is given license to get everything wrong, while accusing Ms. Erdely and Rolling Stone of bad reporting.
These are pictures of part of the Charlottesville Police Department's March 23, 2015 statement, as reprinted by the Washington Post:
Jackie's "inconsistent"? No matter how inconsistent everyone who calls her inconsistent is, everyone who calls her inconsistent wins, and that's because of institutional indifference to sexual assault victims around the world.
This is the address of a November 23, 2015 Washington Post article by Mr. Shapiro, called "Longtime Charlottesville police chief, Timothy Longo, announces retirement":
This is a picture of part of the article:
It's less imperiling to the careers of Virginia law enforcement to swab black people than to resist threats by fraternities, isn't it?
Copyright, with noted exceptions, L. Kochman, November 22, 2016 @ 9:38 p.m./edited November 23, 2016 @ 2:15 a.m.
