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Sabrina Rubin Erdely is an American magazine reporter known for writing "A Rape on Campus", an article in Rolling Stone about the gang rape of a university student, which the magazine retracted following a Columbia University School of Journalism review of the article which concluded that Ms. Erdely and Rolling Stone failed to engage in “basic, even routine journalistic practice” .

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Erdely has written about rape and bullying. She is now a freelance journalist. Prior to the Rolling Stone controversy, her work appeared in GQ, Self, The New Yorker, Mother Jones, Glamour, Men's Health and Philadelphia. Erdely's Rolling Stone story "A Rape on Campus" was named by Columbia Journalism Review as "the Worst Journalism of 2014" and as "Error of the Year" by the Poynter Institute.

Education and early life

Erdely attended and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. According to Erdely, she was initially a pre-med student but became an English major while working on the staff of the 34th Street, the magazine insert for the campus newspaper. After leaving Penn, Erdely went to work for Philadelphia before pursuing a career as a freelance magazine writer.

Magazine writing

Early work

Erdely's 1996 story for Philadelphia, in which a woman was alleged to have been raped by her gynecologist, was nominated for a National Magazine Award. In 2004 Erdely wrote an article for the University of Pennsylvania's alumni magazine, the Pennsylvania Gazette, in which she called journalist Stephen Glass a "sociopathic creep" for fabricating stories. A 2012 story for Rolling Stone, alleging bullying of gay students in Minnesota, was similarly nominated and went on to receive a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Magazine Article. Erdely's 2013 Rolling Stone story "The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer" chronicled the alleged drugging and rape of a U.S. Navy female petty officer by three U.S. Army soldiers.

Rolling Stone article: "The Catholic Church's Secret Sex-Crime Files"

In 2011 Erdely reported a story for Rolling Stone about child abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia. Erdely's story told about a fifth grade altar boy referred to by the pseudonym "Billy Doe" whom "brutal attacks turned ... into a sullen, drug-addicted loner," alleging a "high-level conspiracy." Billy Doe was an adult when he made his accusations, resulting in criminal charges leading to the jailing of three church employees and a major civil suit by Billy Doe against the church.

Ralph Cipriano wrote in Newsweek that "Erdely didn't know or bother to find out ... that Billy had already told his story to the archdiocese, police, and a grand jury, and would subsequently retell it to two different juries in two criminal cases. And every time he told his story, the details kept changing." In the first iteration of the rape Billy Doe claimed to have endured, he was knocked unconscious, stripped, tied to a church altar with sashes, and then anally raped on the altar for five hours. Subsequent iterations of the rape recounted by Billy Doe became increasingly less dramatic; a final version omitted the five-hour altar anal rape. Instead, Billy Doe explained, he had been coerced into engaging in mutual masturbation. Cipriano also criticized Erdely for failing to include information on Billy Doe's background that could have impugned his credibility; he had, for instance, been arrested six times, once while trafficking 56 bags of heroin.

When Erdely was covering the Billy Doe story, her husband was a criminal prosecutor for the District Attorney of Philadelphia which was overseeing the case. Rolling Stone editors said that it was not a conflict of interest because he was not personally involved in the prosecution. William Anthony Donohue at the Catholic League denounced "malicious distortions of the kind found in Erdely’s diatribe." The conviction of one church employee has since been overturned and a new trial ordered for the one remaining (the third church employee died in prison while appealing his conviction).

Rolling Stone article: "A Rape on Campus"

Erdely wrote a story for Rolling Stone, titled "A Rape on Campus", that was published in the December 2014 issue of that magazine, alleging that seven members of Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Virginia gang-raped a student at that fraternity house on September 28, 2012.

Separate inquiries by both Phi Kappa Psi and The Washington Post revealed major errors and discrepancies in the report, and Erdely's story was subject to intense media criticism and questions as to its truthfulness. The Washington Post and Boston Herald both issued calls for magazine staff involved in the report to be fired. Natasha Vargas-Cooper, a columnist at The Intercept, said that Erdely's story showed "a horrendous, hidden bias," while an editorial in The Wall Street Journal charged that "Ms. Erdely did not construct a story based on facts, but went looking for facts to fit her theory." As criticism of the story mounted, Erdely disappeared from public view, with various media outlets describing her as "MIA" and "off the grid." Rolling Stone subsequently issued three apologies for the story. On December 10, 2014, The Washington Post published an updated account of its inquiry into the Rolling Stone article. Summarizing that report, Slate noted that it "strongly implies, without outright saying so, that the gang rape at the center of Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s article might be fabricated."

Scott Goodman, a lawyer, speculated that legal action against the magazine by persons accused of the rape may result. Rolling Stone publisher Jann S. Wenner has asked the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism to audit the editorial processes leading up to the publication of the controversial story.

On January 12, 2015, the University of Virginia reinstated the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity after the police investigation concluded that no incident had occurred at the fraternity. According to Charlottesville police Capt. Gary Pleasants, Phi Psi has been cleared. “We found no basis to believe that an incident occurred at that fraternity," he said, "so there’s no reason to keep them suspended.” The police investigation into the allegations made by Erdely was concluded (though not closed) on March 23, 2015; no evidence was found to support Erdely's claims, with Charlottesville Police officially stating that they had "no basis to conclude that anything happened in fraternity house" and that there "is no substantive basis to support the account alleged in the Rolling Stone article." "A Rape on Campus" does not appear on Erdely's archive of articles on her website.

On April 5, 2015 Rolling Stone retracted the article,

Erdely publicly apologized for the article on April 5, 2015. A spokesman for Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner said that Erdely would continue to write for the magazine.

Film projects

A film, titled The Girl Who Conned the Ivy League and based on Erdely's story of the same name for Rolling Stone, is currently in development with Rob Epstein attached as director. In 2014 Amanda Seyfried was cast in the title role of Esther Reed.

In 2013 it was announced that Craig Brewer would adapt Erdely's story Gangster Princess Of Beverly Hills into a motion picture.

Personal life and other career activity

According to her website, Erdely lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two children. Her website states that she has taught journalism classes at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania.

References

1. Farhi, Paul (November 28, 2014). "Sabrina Rubin Erdely, woman behind Rolling Stone's explosive U-Va. alleged rape story". Washington Post. Retrieved January 30, 2015. ...Erdely, 42, a contributing editor to Rolling Stone and a freelancer who writes frequently about crime and social issues.
2. Somaiya, Ravi (5 April 2015). "Rolling Stone Article on Rape at University of Virginia Failed All Basics, Report Says". NY Times. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
3. ^ Middleton, Josh (2 April 2013). "Local Writer Nominated for ASME Award for Gay-Centric Story in Rolling Stone". Philadelphia Magazine. Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
4. Uberti, David (22 December 2014). "The worst journalism of 2014". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
5. "The year in media errors and corrections 2014". Poynter.org. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
6. "Bio". sabrinaerdely.com. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
7. ^ Erdely, Sabrina (January 2004). "Reflections on a Shattered Glass". Pennsylvania Gazette. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
8. "GLAAD Media Award Nominations: Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, Modern Family, Glee Score Nods". E Online. 16 January 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
9. Erdely, Sabrina (14 February 2013). "The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
10. ^ "ROLLING STONE GETS UGLY: VILE HIT ON PHILLY ARCHDIOCESE". catholicleague.org. Catholic League. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
11. Erdely, Sabrina (6 September 2011). "The Catholic Church's Secret Sex-Crime Files". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
12. "Another Rolling Stone Rape Article Has Major Holes". Newsweek. 11 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
13. Cipriano, Ralph. "The Story of Billy". Independent Voice. Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
14. "Catholic Sex Abuse Case". Philadelphia magazine. Philadelphia, PA. 22 October 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
15. Farhi, Paul (12 December 2014). "Rolling Stone magazine has often thrived on controversy. Is this time different?". Washington Post. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
16. "Philadelphia priest, teacher convicted of abuse seek new trial". National Catholic Reporter. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
17. "The impact of the court decision to reverse Lynn's conviction". Philadelphia City Paper. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
18. Rubin, Sabrina (2014-11-19). "A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA". Rollingstone.com (web.archive.org). Retrieved 2015-03-14.
19. Schow, Ashe (3 December 2014). "If False, Rolling Stone Story Could Set Rape Victims Back Decades". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
20. "Apparently, This Rolling Stone Gathers No Facts". Boston Herald. 7 December 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
21. Concha, Joe (9 December 2014). "Lena Dunham's Republican-Raped-Me Story Crumbles as Legal Action Looms". Mediaite. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
22. ' Weaver, Al (8 December 2014). "Rolling Stones Disgraced UVA Reporter Has Gone Completely Silent". Daily Caller. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
23. Rosin, Hannah (10 December 2014). "The Washington Post Inches Closer to Calling the UVA Gang Rape Story a Fabrication". Slate. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
24. "Civil, Criminal Lawsuits: Possible Outcomes of Rolling Stone Expose". WCAV-TV. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
25. Wemple, Erik (2014-12-19). "Rolling Stone Farms Out Review of U-Va. Rape Story to Columbia Journalism School". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
26. "Police clear U-Va. fraternity, say rape did not happen there". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
27. Robinson, Owen; Stolberg, Sheryl. "Police Find No Evidence of Rape at UVA Fraternity". New York Times. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
28. "Sabrina Rubin Erdely: Award-winning freelance magazine journalist". sabrinaerdely.com.
29. "Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report - Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone.
30. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/business/media/statement-from-writer-of-rolling-stone-rape-article-sabrina-erdely.html
31. Stelter, Brian (6 April 2015). "Major 'failures' found in Rolling Stone's 'A Rape on Campus'". CNNMoney. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
32. "'Lovelace' Directors on 'The Girl Who Conned The Ivy League' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. 22 April 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
33. "Seyfried and McG Join 'The Girl Who Conned The Ivy League'". screenrant.com. February 15, 2014.
34. Fleming, Michael (27 February 2013). "Craig Brewer Signs On For Paramount's 'Gangster Princess Of Beverly Hills'". Deadline. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
35. "Sabrina Rubin Erdely - Biography". Sabrina Rubin Erdely. Retrieved 6 December 2014.

External links

• Official website

Template:Persondata

• 1970s births
• Living people
• American women journalists
• American investigative journalists
• University of Pennsylvania alumni
• Writers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 20th-century women writers
• 21st-century women writers
• Jewish women writers
• Rolling Stone people