UVA Sexual Assault Report: Rape Allegation Shakes UVA Campus; Prompts Fraternities Suspension

In the wake of an appalling sexual assault report at a frat party, University of Virginia (UVA) students commended the decision of the school for suspending all sororities and fraternities in the campus. The rape allegation report fueled protests on the Charlottesville grounds over the weekend.

The suspension of the fraternities was resulted by the sexual assault report in UVA campus detailed in a Rolling Stone magazine article. The suspension will be until Jan. 9.

UVA president Teresa A. Sullivan labelled the alleged gang rape as shocking, as reported by NBC News. In a statement posted on the university's Web site Saturday, she said that the school has since asked the Charlottesville police department to investigate the alleged sexual assault report. So far, there have been no arrests made in the case.

"The wrongs described in Rolling Stone are appalling and have caused all of us to re-examine our responsibility to this community," UVA President Teresa A. Sullivan said through a statement to the university community. "Rape is an abhorrent crime that has no place in the world, let alone on the campuses and grounds of our nation's colleges and universities."

"I write you today in solidarity. I write you in great sorrow, great rage, but most importantly, with great determination," Sullivan added. "Meaningful change is necessary, and we can lead that change for all universities. We can demand that incidents like those described in Rolling Stone never happen and that if they do, the responsible are held accountable to the law."

Meanwhile, the president of UVA's inter-fraternity council Tommy Reid said that ending the sexual assault report on campus can't be done by the fraternities alone.

"It's much larger and much more complicated than the Greek system itself," Reid stated. "I think it's important to understand the temporary ban in itself gives our community time to take a breath to sit back and talk and be active and develop what we consider to be actionable and long term solutions."

The Rolling Stone sexual assault report involved a UVA freshman's allegation in which the victim claimed she was "gang-raped" at a Phi Kappa Psi frat party. ABC News reported the attack transpired in 2012, the same year the university was hailed as the country's top party school by Playboy.

Due to the rape allegation, Phi Kappa Psi's national office issued a statement denouncing all forms of violence.

"To our knowledge there have been no criminal investigations or charges of sexual assault brought against any member of the chapter," the statement said. "Phi Kappa Psi will fully cooperate with the administration of the University of Virginia in identifying and immediately eradicating any alleged or proven misconduct."

UVA has over 20,000 students and about 15,000 of them are undergraduates. Due to the sexual assault report, all fraternal organization was suspended in the campus. While the suspension is imposed, students will be on their Thanksgiving and winter holiday break. CNN reported UVA classes for the spring semester begin Jan. 12.

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