UVA Phi Psi to receive $1.65m settlement from ‘A Rape on Campus’
The fraternity will be donating part of the proceeds to sexual assault awareness education
Phi Psi filed a defamation lawsuit for $25 million in November 2015 after Rolling Stone’s 2014 article “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA” was found to be fabricated. The fraternity has now reached a settlement with the publication for $1.65 million. Phi Psi released an official statement today:
The Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity has agreed to settle and dismiss its defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone and Sabrina Erdely arising from the magazine’s publication of the November, 2014 article A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA. It has been nearly three years since we and the entire University of Virginia community were shocked by the now infamous article, and we are pleased to be able to close the book on that trying ordeal and its aftermath. The chapter looks forward to donating a significant portion of its settlement proceeds to organizations that provide sexual assault awareness education, prevention training and victim counseling services on college campuses. Individual members of the chapter will not conduct media interviews at this time.
The current members and alumni “suffered extreme damage to their reputations in the aftermath of the article’s publication” and continued “to suffer despite the ultimate unraveling of the story” according to a statement released by the fraternity at the time it filed the suit.