A former University of Virginia student and the subject of the debunked Rolling Stone article about a fabricated rape, was ordered on Monday to comply with all subpoenas and court orders after she met them with resistance.
The Daily Progress reports that “Jackie” writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely, was behind the 9,000-word story, published in Rolling Stone magazine’s November 2014 issue. The now-retracted article depicted a girl named Jackie who claimed she was taken to a room by members of the University of Virginia’s Phi Kappa Psi, where she was raped by numerous different frat members.
A weekend of protest at UVA as our rape investigation jolts the campus: http://t.co/qgimy50dWb
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) November 24, 2014
The piece sparked a frenzied outrage that garnered so much attention that the school’s administration suspended Greek life and all Greek life activities for the semester. As the article’s popularity grew, however, so did the public’s scrutiny of it. By April 2015, the backlash was so severe that Rolling Stone retracted the story. Charlottesville police investigated the incident and found no traces of evidence that the rape had ever occurred.
The Phi Kappa Psi house was vandalized last night. Don't do that, people. Not constructive. http://t.co/5qt8TD0VF9
— Sabrina Rubin Erdely (@SabrinaRErdely) November 20, 2014
In the aftermath, Erdely was sued by three different parties for the chaos she created. The school’s administrator, Nicole Eramo, filed a defamation lawsuit, while three fraternity alumni filed their own defamation lawsuit shortly after. In November 2015, the UVA chapter of Phi Kappa Psi filed the third lawsuit against Erdely, claiming that her fake article made them become “the object of an avalanche of condemnation worldwide.”
Erdely has mostly remained quiet and out of the public eye, but with the latest subpoena, she filed numerous objections, stating that she shouldn’t have to provide the materials the court is asking for. Her requests were denied.
The lawsuit trial is slated to start on October 23.
[Feature Photo: AP/Steve Helber, File]
