Nicole Eramo, the University of Virginia’s associate dean of students, is now suing Rolling Stone magazine for its now-discredited “Rape in Campus” report by Sabrina Rubin Erderly.
Eramo’s lawsuit claims Rolling Stone made her the “chief villain” in the story, USA Today reported. Rolling Stone wanted “to weave a narrative that depicted the University of Virginia as an institution that is indifferent to rape on campus, and more concerned with protecting its reputation than with assisting victims of sexual assault,” the lawsuit claims.
Her lawsuit calls for “more than $7.5 million in damages from Rolling Stone, its parent company Wenner Media and Sabrina Rubin Erderly,” the Washington Post reported.
Rolling Stone declined to comment to iMediaEthics about the lawsuit.
Eramo says the Rolling Stone report “destroyed her credibility, permanently damaged her reputation and caused her emotional distress,” according to the Washington Post.
The lawsuit went on, Newsweek reported:
“Rolling Stone and Erdely’s highly defamatory and false statements about Dean Eramo were not the result of an innocent mistake; they were the result of a wanton journalist who was more concerned with writing an article that fulfilled her preconceived narrative about the victimization of women on American college campuses, and a malicious publisher who was more concerned about selling magazines to boost the economic bottom line for its faltering magazine, than they were about discovering the truth or actual facts.”
The lawsuit points out to Rolling Stone’s illustration of Eramo that it said helped “portray Dean Eramo as a villain.” The image via Washington Post is below.
Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity named in the Rolling Stone article, announced a libel lawsuit against Rolling Stone over the article last month.
Columbia Graduate School of Journalism reviewed the Rolling Stone report, concluding it was a “story of journalistic failure.” After the Columbia investigation, Rolling Stone formally retracted its story.
UPDATE: 5/12/2015 4:49 PM EST Added info