UVa to pay $500,000 for Rolling Stone claim reviews

Article here. Excerpt:

'The University of Virginia will pay more than $500,000 for separate reviews of its response to a since-discredited fraternity gang rape claim and the school’s sexual assault policies, but many lingering questions could go publicly unanswered.

Recently signed contracts obtained by The Daily Progress show that an international law firm will be paid $500,000 to probe the university’s handling of “the specific allegations in Rolling Stone,” while, separately, Philadelphia attorneys will assess school policies and procedures. The contract for the latter work includes a clause stipulating that the attorneys “maintain all communications as confidential.”

A university official did not respond to questions about what might be made public from the second evaluation, which, according to the contract, does not contain a cap for fees or expenses.

“It once again pushes things deep into the bowels of the Rotunda, where the university always goes to make important decisions,” former UVa administrator John Foubert said of the decision to thrust the actual sexual assault policy work onto a separate law firm. “UVa continues to go about this the wrong way.”'