The leader of the University of Virginia governing board denounced Rolling Stone magazine for an article on an alleged gang rape at the university that he likened to a drive-by assault, the Washington Post reports. “Like a neighborhood thrown into chaos by drive-by violence, our tightly knit community has experienced the full fury of drive-by journalism in the 21st century,” U-Va. Rector George Keith Martin said at a meeting of the Board of Visitors. Martin spoke one month after the article sent shock waves through the community with its portrayal of a student whose account of a gang rape at a fraternity house was met with official indifference.
The article since has unraveled, with key elements of the allegation falling into doubt and the magazine's managing editor apologizing for discrepancies in the account and omissions in its reporting. Martin said Rolling Stone showed “callous indifference” to the truth and the consequences of its reporting. Martin offered a statement of regret to people at the prestigious public university he said were harmed by the article and its aftermath.” Martin pledged to make public as much as the law allows from an independent counsel's review of sexual violence issues at the 23,000-student university. State Attorney General Mark Herring named the O'Melveny and Myers law firm to lead that inquiry.