Gang rape article prompts university to suspend fraternity activities

The University of Virginia has suspended all fraternity activities and asked police to investigate a 2012 sexual assault in the wake of a Rolling Stone article that said the Charlottesville campus failed to protect students from sexual predators lurking among the school's Greek organisations.

On Saturday, University President Teresa Sullivan said all fraternity activities would be suspended until January 9 next year as campus officials discuss steps to prevent assaults on campus.

"The wrongs described in Rolling Stone are appalling and have caused all of us to reexamine our responsibility to this 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," she said.

Sullivan has also asked Charlottesville police to open an investigation of the brutal gang rape described at the beginning of the Rolling Stone piece. According to the report, a girl identified only as Jackie was attacked by several members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in 2012, sexually assaulted for hours and sodomised with a beer bottle at the fraternity house.

The victim had repeated meetings with campus officials and told them that two other women had also accused Phi Kappa Psi members of assaulting them, but the campus did not take any measures to warn students of the potential danger, according to the report.

Response to the article has sparked anger and protests on campus, and four people were arrested on Saturday during a rally outside the Phi Kappa Psi house.