UVA Reinstates Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity

Without admitting that it may have over reacted and been duped by the now widely pilloried Rolling Stone article that claimed UVA harbored a "culture of rape," officials at the University of Virginia has reinstated Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.  As noted in several posts, the Rolling Stone article never rang true based on my years at UVA or those of one of my daughters who had friend who were members of Phi Kappa Psi.  Huffington Post looks at the reinstatement and the University's efforts to undo damage that it wrought.  Here are excerpts:

The University of Virginia reinstated the fraternity at the center of a disputed gang rape allegation following the conclusion of a police investigation into the matter, the school announced Monday.

The UVA chapter of Phi Kappa Psi, a fraternity whose party was said to be the setting for a gang rape in a bedroom of a female student named Jackie, suspended itself following a Rolling Stone article in November reporting the claim. Inaccuracies centering around Jackie's story later surfaced, and the fraternity came forward saying it had not even held a formal social event on the night the gang rape allegedly happened.

UVA requested the Charlottesville Police Department investigate the claim in Rolling Stone's story. The police said they would continue their investigation regardless of the dispute over the article's accuracy.

Charlottesville police spokesman Gary Pleasants told The Huffington Post their investigation has not yet been completed, just that so far they have "found no substantive basis that the alleged incident occurred at that fraternity."

In a statement, Stephen Scipione, president of the UVA Alpha Chapter Phi Kappa Psi, said, "In today's 24-hour news cycle, we must guard against a rush to judgment as we often don’t have all of the facts in front of us."

Last week, the university announced new rules for parties under an addendum to an annual agreement all fraternities must sign. One of the included rules says a sober fraternity member must monitor all the bedrooms in the fraternity house during parties.

The university heaped praise on Phi Kappa Psi, noting the fraternity was the first to sign on to the new, stricter party rules, and pointed out its members helped draft the addendum.