As we noted last December, Rolling Stone asked the Columbia Journalism School to do a complete independent review of their disastrous story about rape at the University of Virginia; tonight that report has been released, and it’s pretty damning: Major ‘Failures’ Found in Rolling Stone’s ‘A Rape on Campus.’

An institutional failure at Rolling Stone resulted in a deeply flawed article about a purported gang rape at the University of Virginia, according to an outside review by Columbia Journalism School professors.

The review, published Sunday night, says the failures were sweeping — they “encompassed reporting, editing, editorial supervision and fact-checking — and “may have spread the idea that many women invent rape allegations.”

And it all could have been avoided if the writer, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, had contacted more sources.

In short: all she had to do was call.

“The editors invested Rolling Stone’s reputation in a single source,” Columbia’s 12,866-word report concludes.

The author, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, has released an abject apology for the piece; obviously, she’s painfully aware that she may have given ammunition to the right wingers and men’s rights activists who reflexively claim all rape stories are made up:

Statement from Sabrina Rubin Erdely. pic.twitter.com/z70DmqtYqc

— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) April 6, 2015

Rolling Stone has published the full report here: Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report.