An independent research conducted by a team in the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism ended the months-long controversy of Rolling Stone magazine’s story about a gang rape of a Virginia University student. The magazine was forced to withdraw its article, which proved to be incorrect, admit and apologize for the mistakes made during its publication and editing.

The aim behind the article was to incentivize people to come face to face with the existing problem of sexual violence in college campuses in the US, but instead, according to Columbia University, through publicizing an article proven to be wrong, probably aided in supporting the opinions of those who claim that young women fabricate such claims.

The article was first published on November 2014. It contained the interview of “Jackie”, a student who claimed to have been gang raped by many of her fellow students in 2012 during a frat party.

The publication caused a stir and an outcry, many student protests, the disbanding of several college fraternities and rekindled the conversation surrounding sexual violence in US colleges.

In March, after a five-month-long investigation, Virginia police stated that there is no evidence to confirm “Jackie’s” claims of gang rape.

The validity of the article had already been disputed by other press agencies, including The Washington Post.