The University of Virginia fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, which had been at the center of rape allegations in an article for Rolling Stone magazine, made an announcement on Monday regarding their intentions to pursue legal options.
According to FoxNews.com, the president of the chapter, Stephen Scipione, said in a statement, “Our fraternity and its members have been defamed.” The fallout from the magazine article led to many members being shunned and their fraternity house was the scene of vandalism.
On Sunday, Rolling Stone retracted the story, in which a woman named Jackie claimed multiple individuals had raped her. The story came under fire when the fraternity revealed there had not been a party on the date she claimed the rape happened, as well as other inconsistencies.
A review by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism found that there were lapses when it came to the procedures that journalism holds to in both editing an reporting work.
Police also made an investigation into the alleged attack, but Jackie did not cooperate.
Reuters reported that in a statement, the Dean of the Columbia Journalism School, Steve Coll, made it a point that they did not blame Jackie for the failure of Rolling Stone. He said in a news conference, “We do disagree with any suggestion that this was Jackie’s fault.”
Rolling Stone announced that while they would be reviewing their practices in editorial work, they would not fire anyone from the magazine.