Great article and perspective on the situation.

Sadly, you run into the CSI effect, the time it takes test the DNA of the members of the frat would be very long. Yes, they can for example remove anyone that no of the type found on the girl, i.e. I doubt the person is AB(Its great if they are, lowers the windows a bit). Legally, financially and time wise this is not a realistic option. If the Frat would offer to use its social funds towards paying an outside lab to do the test, that would be a great first step.

The thing about college-aged kids is that they talk; they always want to brag about their crimes. Undoubtedly, there is at least one person who knows the identity of the rapist(s). As a responsible member of society, it is their duty to come forward and provide justice. If it is the frat house president, he must not protect any of his brothers.

Frats might want to start with no more arguing whether a rape occured (it did, this is perposterous); calling for the victim to publicize her medical records to prove it (illegal); or considering suing a newspaper for running allegations (impossible and stupid) or the women in the story for making them (really, really stupid).

Someone did this at this house and it's absolute liability (person cannot consent if drugged). Brahs who are trotting out all these juvenile and tired "defenses" to rape accusations are just seriously damaging the already mutilated image of Greeks.

Thank you for taking a fresh, unbiased, respectful opinion on this matter.

This is a great article

"For the first time since I’ve been at Wisconsin, the question is no longer if or what, but who." Nice, I suppose we can just do away with that whole criminal process thing then, no use in that. Just ask the guys at Duke how that worked out for them.

"Rather than some anonymous speculation, we have a police investigation, a 44-minute transcript and DNA evidence. The victim’s story certainly has strong emotional pull, but even more striking is the conclusion of the rape examination. For the first time since I’ve been at Wisconsin, the question is no longer if or what, but who."

Um - the DNA "evidence" is the girl saying she gave DNA. an the Victim's "story", is just that, a story! "Rather than some anonymous speculation", pretty sure everything has been anonymous. A friend of a friend of a friend had a pill in her drink a year ago, some other girl at brats was raped... These are unsubstantiated claims.

The victim's statements do not qualify as evidence. If this case was cut and dry, something would of been done by now. As sad as it is if it is true, lets be honest, the "facts" are very very questionable.

It seems like all this evidence and talking would lead to a solved crime.... if it actually happened. This attitude of guilty until proven innocent is an abomination of the justice system and no group, person, or otherwise on this campus should have their name so tarnished without proof. Now should this all come out to be false the hit that this fraternity has taken will not go away and it's a simple case of people putting their noses in places where they have no experience and relying on the media to print what they feel will make a good story.

great editorial...thank you for articulating what so many of us students have had trouble wording

i was about to abandon the badger harold, at least someone kept their head on their shoulders and talked about what the knew to be true on this topic. Thanks dude

Let us not forget the tale of the Duke University Lacrosse team. The alleged rape there seemed all but proven and for months the men on the team were ridiculed and harrased on a national stage. After months of investigations the girl admitted that the Duke Lacross team's story was true and that she had not been raped. While the men at Sigma Chi have yet to say their side of the story we must not be too quick to judge and ruin potentially innocent lives. To paraphrase one of our great founders "I rather let 100 guilty men go then imprison one innocent man."

You frat apes really should obey your gag rule.

There is not one ounce of hard evidence in this "case". Notice i called it a "case", because the university and police have already investigated it and deemed it "case closed" because the girls story had so many holes in it. "I think I woke up at sigma chi", gimme a break!

the wsj quoted the police as saying this case was not only "open" but "active" as of yesterday, so . . . incorrect.

@ 12:03

signs of forced penetration and dna do not qualify as hard evidence?

the world is 6000 years old, bugs spawn from meat and bloodletting is a cure for all too right?

if you rape someone, you leave evidence, sooo yes. there is irrefutable evidence that the girl was raped. ALSO, if you roofie someone, it doesn't automatically go away a few hours later, like any other substance, it is detectable in the body, and i'm sure the hospital has record of that, and the DNA collected from the rape kit. The girl was raped, there is no denying that, so Joey got it absolutely right when he said its not an if, but who. She was raped, and that should be enough, but some people are taking it to a different level- as if she wanted or somehow invited this to happen to her.

Some of these comments are so disgusting, that it almost seems to me that the people writing these comments don't take rape to be a serious and disgusting crime. The big difference in this case and that of the Duke Lacrosse team is that she is leaving it up to the police to investigate, she has named NO specific names. NOONE has been presumed guilty. But yes, their is some very negative connotation now with Sigma Chi, but that's the point of a fraternity- you stick together, they are your brothers, and if they do something of this nature, it will be linked to sigma chi altogether.

Sounds to me like a lot of young men are getting a little scared that they might be held accountable for their crime(s).

Actually to set the record straight the president DID ask the fraternity to give DNA samples and they all were compliant but the police refused it. get your facts straight before you accuse people of not taking this matter seriously.

this is a fantastic editorial; but let's remember that is just that- an editorial. There is a skew, and it is opinionated. The real shame, is that the original articles were not placed in the editorial section, and that we were mislead to believe that they were journalistic accounts. why is there no one at the badger herald blowing a whistle? where is the accountability?

Hey 1:14 -

What the hell are you on about? So if someone makes criminal claims that are not proven, we should not cover them? The news covers cases all the time involving crimes committed without all the facts out there. You know why? Because there needs to be some attention paid to what led to this. In this case, there is a marked track record of the frats allowing these sort of things to remain internal and under wraps. No justice, no rehabilitation for the frats involved, no accountability.

And besides, the stories weren't opinionated, they weren't calling for SigChi's necks, they were stating the facts -- that a girl is claiming she was raped, MPD is investigating and the Dean's office was involved. If SigEp doesn't want to say anything, that's their faux pas. There's nothing opinionated about it.

I'd love to hear what exactly counts as "journalism" someday. It's not like they're writing fiction over there!

@ 12:44 - you commented
"@ 12:03 signs of forced penetration and dna do not qualify as hard evidence?"

and the answer is no - until the police state that or hospital records are made public, no it is allegations - If she also claimed of being shot in the face twice and dropped of the sears tower - would that be hard evidence too?

Great article, Joey!

Bunch of frat boys don't like news stories with "alleged" in it now that they are the subject of it and not some "alleged" drug dealer on Allied Drive. See all the moronic whining about suing for defamation on publication of an "alleged" crime. Media are not (normally) stupid about this sort of thing.

In case nobody notices the broader trend here, FRATS ARE OBSOLETE. Period. Besides your big house. We'll take that.

The heading on the original article should have read... "Girl gets wasted, consents to sex, then gets embarrassed and makes up a rape story"

keep this BS out of the news unless some real evidence surfaces. Overall, this is a good article though. The random chicks just claiming to be raped or drugged from years ago should of reported it then...if its true, then Sigma Chi should be punished to the fullest extent of the law/university, but all there is now is allegations with no substantial evidence.

hahahaha frats are obsolete? because you aren't in a fraternity means they're obsolete? You're probably not in the NRA but does that make it obsolete? 4,000 students strong would seem to tell me there's a few people that feel differently about the Greek system.

I think readers should remember they are reading the news. We students are not the judge and jury of the victim or of the fraternity. The investigation will be conducted seperately from the news coverage, so stop condemning the victim because maybe her interview was a little incomplete. If this was your sister, or your girlfriend, would you ridicule her in the same way you're ridiculing this girl?

To 7:27am --- Asking the frat to pay for their own DNA tests is not only stupid but very unfeasible. The cost of doing ONE test is very high. The costs of doing tests on every male that lived in that house when the alleged rape occurred would be astronomical. That's why they haven't been performed and probably won't. No tests will be performed until they can narrow it down a bit.

to 2:57 pm...

The heading on the original article should have read... "Girl gets wasted, consents to sex, then gets embarrassed and makes up a rape story"

WOW! Just WOW! Really? Do you think before you type... seems not to be the case. I'm not saying that the girl's story is true or fabricated; that is not for me, or any of you to decide; but postings like these do no one any good. Be at least a little respectful of BOTH parties (victim and frat) involved and please don't be so quick to pass judgement on people you may have never met. I expected more constructive comments/debate from my peers but my expectations may be too high...

Badgerherald, you started a fire.... I hope you can keep the blaze under control...

What fire? I see a bunch of chimpanzees that should convince girls to never date fraternity men ever again.

@3/5,2:57: Consensual sex doesn't tear up your vag in a way that happens to be consistent with gang-rape to the eyes a medical professional.

Great article!
There is little doubt that this girl may have made a few mistakes that night...but no matter her mistakes, NO ONE deserves to be raped.
As far as the frat, I think it is a shame that the whole frat name is being tarnished when only a few guys committed this crime.
I think people should stop blaming the victim and focus on solving the crime. Very rarely (not sure on the statistics, but i think it falls at about 2%) do people cry rape, plus this girl has evidence on her side...the bruises, the tearing, etc.
Like someone said before me...would you be criticizing this girl if it were your sister, or girlfriend...think about it.

" If I lived at 221 Langdon St. I would be marching down to the police station and demanding they take my DNA, short of removing a kidney, for the investigation."

The Duke lacrosse team did that; they laughed at their lawyers' advice and were already leaving the meeting as the lawyers were trying to caution them, heading for the police station to give DNA samples, thinking it was just going to be a day off from practice. They knew the allegations against them were so transparently false as to be laughable.

DNA testing proved no lacrosse player so much as touched the accuser.
It didn't help them.

Such was the atmosphere and the stereotyping that society (the media, the public, militants of all stripes) refused to believe the evidence. A week AFTER the DNA test results had been made public, lacrosse players were indicted for rape anyway--on nothing other than the word of an accuser.

In some states, if you volunteer DNA evidence, you are not entitled to get the full test results back--i.e., information about who else may have had sex with the accuser. If you wait to get a subpoena, then you are entitled to that evidence; and, you have a right to fight the subpoena--meaning, that you can offer up evidence that you are innocent and wrongly accused. A subpoena helped the lacrosse players get evidence they would not have gotten otherwise.

I have no idea whether these present allegations are true or not. But there is a reason for the legal doctrine of "presumption of innocence".
And that has to apply to unpopular members of society as well as popular ones; to those who might seem to be likely candidates to have committed an offense, as well as those who appear unlikely.

Time enough for a court to unravel matters through a legal process.

"Consensual sex doesn't tear up your vag in a way that happens to be consistent with gang-rape to the eyes a medical professional."

A medical professional said Crystal Mangum had been raped...it was a lie.
The media said her vagina was torn...it wasn't.
The media and her relatives said her face was bruised and swollen...it wasn't.

Maybe this is a case of rape and maybe it isn't.

We certainly do not know yet. We certainly cannot rely on what we read from the media.

If the police have a good case, they will let us know.

This incident was in October? The police don't have a case against anyone yet? A bunch of frat boys would not be able to keep a secret like this for very long, even assuming they would try to. There must be more to this story than the media is reporting. No group who witnesses a violent gang rape is going to be able to keep it quiet for long.