This is a transfer from the "About" section, about T. Rees Shapiro, at the Washington Post online:
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T. Rees Shapiro is an English graduate of Virginia Tech. He got his start in journalism as a reporter for the college newspaper covering the April 16, 2007, shootings on campus. A Middleburg, Va., native, he is an alumnus of Woodberry Forest School.
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April 6, 2015
He was born, raised, and educated in Virginia.
Woodberry Forest School is a private boarding school for boys of high school age.
This is a transfer from the "About: Welcome" section of the website for Woodberry Forest School:
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ABOUT WOODBERRY FOREST SCHOOL
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional boarding school community for motivated boys in grades nine through twelve. We were founded in 1889 on a central Virginia farm originally owned by the family of President James Madison. Today our stunning, 1200-acre campus attracts students from all over the nation and around the world. Our academic and athletic facilities, some classic and others state-of-the-art, rival those at many small colleges. We offer all of the amenities essential in a quality residential community and a location convenient to Charlottesville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C.
Woodberry offers a challenging academic curriculum, including highly competitive sports and fine arts programs and international studies programs in China, Costa Rica, England (Oxford), France, Mexico, Nicaragua, Scotland, Spain, and South Africa. We also offer a wide variety of extracurricular activities to engage boys with many interests. Our legendary honor system has been teaching boys how to be honorable men for 125 years.
At Woodberry, we challenge boys to become successful leaders and active contributors to society and prepare them to enter the most selective colleges and universities. As alumni, they become leaders in business, public service, and nonprofit endeavors worldwide as well as enthusiastic supporters of each other and the school.
When boys leave Woodberry Forest they lead successful careers that are significant and rewarding. As men, they often reflect that during their time at Woodberry a real foundation is laid for later success in life. They comment that the honor system, the commitment to sportsmanship and a caring faculty have influenced them for a lifetime. They recognize the effect the school has had on their lives and want to make certain that future generations of boys have the opportunity to experience the excellence that is Woodberry Forest School. Our financial stability is the result of this support.
When boys leave Woodberry Forest they lead successful careers that are significant and rewarding. As men, they often reflect that during their time at Woodberry a real foundation is laid for later success in life. They comment that the honor system, the commitment to sportsmanship and a caring faculty have influenced them for a lifetime. They recognize the effect the school has had on their lives and want to make certain that future generations of boys have the opportunity to experience the excellence that is Woodberry Forest School. Our financial stability is the result of this support.
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April 6, 2015
Why didn't they just call that section "Welcome, Future Rich Almuni"?
Rolling Stone issued its first apology about the article "A Rape on Campus" largely in response to the article written by Mr. Shapiro and published in The Washington Post on December 10, 2014. The Washington Post article is mentioned repeatedly in that first apology.
The Washington Post gave the task of investigating the Rolling Stone article to someone who was born in Virginia, who got his high school education at an all-male, exclusive private boarding school, and who then went to Virginia Tech.
This is a transfer from the "Tuition" section of the website for Woodberry Forest:
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TUITION
Tuition for the 2014-2015 academic year is $37,650; room and board is $12,550. The total annual cost is $50,200.
There are no activity fees at Woodberry.
During the 2014-15 academic year, Woodberry offered $5.3 million in need-based grants and loans to 40% of the student body. The average grant is $32,900. Please contact our director of financial aid if you have any questions.
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April 6, 2015
I figured that Woodberry, or some other private school, or someone, somewhere, would respond to just a statement of the facts of the cost of Woodberry by saying "Woodberry Forest gives financial aid to a lot of students, and couldn't do that with alumni help." That's why I included the part about how Woodberry offers grants and loans to 40% of the student body.
The remaining 60% of the student body are all male adolescents with rich parents; that's true, isn't it? 60% is what's called "the majority," isn't it? Probably, much of the 40% that is not in that majority is not constituted of adolescents from families that are actually poor; those teens are probably mostly from middle class families. Also, the word "offers" is significant, isn't it? Woodberry "offers" grant and loan deals to students whose parents can't afford to pay all of the costs; surely there are students every year who can't accept the deals because, even with the financial aid that's offered them, they can't afford the school? Others may get through all four years, while their parents watch the debt collect around their families, before their children even get to college.
Rolling Stone might not have ever asked the Columbia Journalism Review to investigate the reporting methods used for the article "A Rape on Campus" if the Washington Post, being the prestigious newspaper that it is, hadn't intimidated Rolling Stone with its reporting by someone who is either a member of Virginia's own aristocracy or has reason to be expected to be loyal to that aristocracy.
I said this morning, and I'm saying it again, that the article "A Rape on Campus" is certainly no worse in terms of the methods used to investigate a story than is the overwhelming majority of news stories that the conglomerate has been publishing to support various types of crime, particularly crimes of sexual violence, for the past 5 years. Probably, much more research, thought and actual journalism were done for that article than for much of what passes for news all over the world, every day.
Did it ever occur to anyone at The Washington Post that someone who was less likely to be biased might be a better choice for investigating the Rolling Stone allegations than Mr. Shapiro?
Copyright, with noted exceptions, L. Kochman, April 6, 2015 @ 3:12 p.m./addition @ 3:32 p.m.
