UPDATE:
11:00 am — Reporter Alison Menhart speaks with the RSVP coordinator Michele Passonno on whether or not false rape claims damage the chances real victims will come forward.
Athens, GA — The Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention group, or RSVP, has a table set up in the University of Georgia Tate Plaza today to speak out against sexual harassment. This month is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and today is National Day of Action. RSVP says it is concerned about the number of rapes that are reported at UGA — 71 rapes were reported on UGA’s campus last year. The group says it is offering support for victims. RSVP says its goal is to have one or more members of every student organization at UGA trained to be a Sexual Assault Advocate.
Rolling Stone has retracted an article published in November where a student at the University of Virginia alleged gang rape at a campus fraternity house. The student’s claims were later proved to be false by Charlottesville police and Rolling Stone has been put under fire for “unjustly damag[ing] the reputations of many innocent individuals and the University of Virginia.” The Columbia University Journalism school says the circumstances surrounding the retracted Rolling Stone report could make some victims of sexual assault reluctant to speak out.
