Sabrina Erdely

Sabrina Erdely
Born	Sabrina Rubin 1971/1972 (age 43–44)[1]
Residence	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania
Occupation	Journalist
Spouse(s)	Peter Erdely
Awards	GLAAD Media Award (2012)

Sabrina Rubin Erdely is an American magazine reporter best known as the author of a discredited article in Rolling Stone describing the alleged rape of a University of Virginia student by several fraternity members. The story, entitled "A Rape on Campus", was later found to be unsupported by any evidence. The magazine retracted the article following a Columbia University School of Journalism review which concluded that Erdely and Rolling Stone failed to engage in "basic, even routine journalistic practice".^[2] As a result, Erdely has been named in three lawsuits with demands of over $32 million combined for damages resulting from the publication of the story.^[3]

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.^[4] Erdely's Rolling Stone story "A Rape on Campus" was named by Columbia Journalism Review as "the Worst Journalism of 2014"^[5] and as "Error of the Year" by the Poynter Institute.^[6]

Education and early life

Erdely graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994.^[4] 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 Daily Pennsylvanian, the campus newspaper.^[7] During her tenure at 34th Street, her colleague Stephen Glass "threw a righteous fit" at her after she and a colleague "concocted a funny and obviously made-up travel story" for the magazine.^[8] (Later, she would call Glass a "sociopathic creep" because he fabricated stories for The New Republic).^[9]

After leaving Penn, Erdely went to work for Philadelphia before pursuing a career as a freelance magazine writer.^[4]

Magazine writing

Early work

Erdely's 1996 story for Philadelphia, concerning a woman who alleged she had been raped by her gynecologist, was nominated for a National Magazine Award.^[10] 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.^[4][11] Erdely's 2013 Rolling Stone story "The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer" chronicled the alleged drugging and rape of a US Navy female petty officer by three US Army soldiers.^[12]

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

Erdely's 2011 story on Philadelphia's Catholic church, which alleged Charles Engelhardt, a priest at St Francis de Sales (pictured) sexually abused a minor, has been criticized for overreliance on a dubious source.^[9][13]

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.^[14]

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.^[15] 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.^[16][17]

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.^[18] William Anthony Donohue at the Catholic League denounced "malicious distortions of the kind found in Erdely's diatribe."^[13] 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).^[19][20]

Billy Doe was later identified as Daniel Gallagher.^[21]

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.^[22]

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.^[23] The Washington Post and Boston Herald both issued calls for magazine staff involved in the report to be fired.^[24] 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."^[25][26] 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."^[27]

Scott Goodman, a lawyer, speculated that legal action against the magazine by persons accused of the rape may result.^[28] 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.^[29]

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 captain Gary Pleasants, Phi Psi has been cleared. "We found no basis to believe that an incident occurred at that fraternity, so there's no reason to keep them suspended."^[30] 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 [the] fraternity house, or any fraternity house, for that matter" and that there "is no substantive basis to support the account alleged in the Rolling Stone article."^[31]

On April 5, 2015, Rolling Stone retracted the article.^[32] Erdely publicly apologized for the article on April 5, 2015,^[33] though her apology did not include any mention of the fraternity, or the members of the fraternity who were accused.^[34] The Columbia Journalism Review called the apology "a grudging act of contrition."^[35]

Both a spokesman for publisher Wenner^[36] and Will Dana, managing editor, said that Erdely would continue to write articles for Rolling Stone.^[37]

On May 12, 2015, the associate dean of students at the University of Virginia, Nicole Eramo, filed a lawsuit against both Rolling Stone and Erdely, seeking $7.5 million in damages based upon her claim that the article contained "highly defamatory and false statements", which she alleged, led to the destruction of Eramo's credibility, permanently damaging her reputation, and causing her emotional distress.^[38]

On July 29, 2015, a separate lawsuit was filed by 3 UVA graduates (who were also members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity) against Rolling Stone, its publisher Wenner Media and Erdeley for defamation and infliction of emotional distress caused by Erdely's story.^[39]

The story was listed by Columbia Journalism Review as one of "the Worst Journalism of 2014"^[40] and also listed as one of "Errors of the Year" by the Poynter Institute.^[41]

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.^[42] In 2014, Amanda Seyfried was cast in the title role of Esther Reed.^[43]

In 2013, it was announced that Craig Brewer would adapt Erdely's story "Gangster Princess of Beverly Hills" into a motion picture.^[44]

Personal life and other career activity

Erdely, who is Jewish,^[45] lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two children.^[46] Her website states that she has taught journalism classes at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania.^[47]

References

External links

• Official website