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Major Changes on the Way for the University of Virginia

Hawes Spencer

The University of Virginia’s governing board is weighing several possible changes in policy following charges the school permits a culture of rape to survive on campus. 

Student protestors chanted outside an emergency meeting of the board of visitors - prompted by last week's report in Rolling Stone magazine of a fraternity house rape and allegations of a culture that tolerates binge drinking and sexual assault.

Former Rector and current board member Helen Dragas, who has informed friends that a close  friend was gang raped during her time at UVA, and she choked up Tuesday before beginning her remarks.

Credit Hawes Spencer
Board member Helen Dragas pens a note of solidarity for Niki Afsar and Lyra Bartell.

"Like so many of you, I have been heartbroken.  We are here to end what appears to be a speak no evil climate that victimizes survivors and protects perpetrators.  The university’s credibility has already been jeopardized by a incremental and status quo approaches, and for good reason.  We must proclaim now that we are seriously willing to take on the pillars of a social culture that ritualizes rape and demeans women."

Fellow board member L.D. Britt, a medical doctor, likened UVA to a wounded patient, and he demanded answers about the alleged crime described in Rolling Stone, but Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo said that should not be discussed publicly, since a criminal investigation is now underway.

President Teresa Sullivan promised better lighting and security on campus and in nearby neighborhoods, adding that the city would set up a new  police substation on the Corner.

But anyone hoping to see fraternities shut down or drinking banned was disappointed. Here’s graduate student Whitney Bevill.

"It doesn't sound like they're gonna make a lot of change. It sounds like it's a lot of patting each other on the back. Like I said on my poster, we need radical change.

"BOV member Britt, however, seemed to win approval from his colleagues when he insisted that any resolution include language emphasizing that no tradition would stand in the way of change."Any tradition that jeopardizes a student-- puts a student in harm's way-- we're not going to embrace."

The Board plans to meet again in about three weeks to vote on a new policy of zero tolerance for sexual assault. 

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