HMM: Rolling Stone Argues University of Virginia Vouched for Discredited Rape Story.

But maybe most provocative is the letter’s discussion of a woman named Emily Renda. Who’s she?

Here’s how the Columbia School of Journalism report opened:

“Last July 8, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, a writer for Rolling Stone, telephoned Emily Renda, a rape survivor working on sexual assault issues as a staff member at the University of Virginia. Erdely said she was searching for a single, emblematic college rape case that would show ‘what it’s like to be on campus now … where not only is rape so prevalent but also that there’s this pervasive culture of sexual harassment/rape culture,’ according to Erdely’s notes of the conversation.”

And now here’s how the Rolling Stone letter to Eramo puts what happened:

“Ms. Erdely did not stumble on Jackie’s story. She was directed to Jackie by Emily Renda, then working closely with Dean Eramo in the Student Affairs office the — same Emily Renda that included Jackie’s account of being ‘gang-raped’ in her Congressional testimony about campus sexual-assault policies. There is no question that both the author and Rolling Stone had full faith in Jackie’s credibility and the accuracy of its Article at the time of publication. In no small measure, Rolling Stone believed in the credibility of Jackie’s story because it came with the imprimatur of UVA, and of Dean Eramo specifically.”

The boldface is in the letter. The publication is essentially arguing that Eramo vouched for the credibility of its main source. And this is potentially important because the letter states “at bottom, any libel inquiry turns on what Rolling Stone knew and believed at the time of publication” and a footnote in the letter also says that Eramo is “unquestionably a public figure.”

Rolling Stone is also asserting in its Answer yesterday that the statements published weren’t made with “actual malice” — the standard if Eramo is deemed a public figure — besides challenging plaintiff’s harm amid other typical defenses.

It’s also worth noting Renda’s reaction once the story came out and was retracted.

Read the whole thing, and note that Renda was the link between UVA, Rolling Stone, and the Obama White House’s college-sex-prohibition operation.