University of Virginia Dean Nicole Eramo, the head of the school's Sexual Misconduct Board, said no student had been expelled for sexual assault during her tenure and that the harshest punishment received so far has been a two-year suspension.

Eramo made those comments in October during an interview with student-run media organization WUVA. The complete interview was released on Sunday following the publication of a scathing Rolling Stone article on the school's handling of sexual assault cases.

During the interview, Eramo is asked why students who have confessed to sexual assault have not been expelled from the school. In contrast, students who violate the school's honor code by lying, cheating, or stealing are immediately ousted.

"I feel like, in the context of an informal resolution meeting, there's really no advantage to admitting guilt, there's no need to admit guilt, they're not actually in a hearing proceeding, and I feel like if a person is willing to come forward in that setting, and admit that they violated the policy when there's absolutely no advantage to do so, that those do deserve some consideration," Eramo said in the interview.

"I do feel like that person, admitting [guilt] in that context, shows a recognition that what they've done is wrong and a willingness to improve in a way that going through a hearing and sitting there the entire time and saying, 'I didn't do anything,' doesn't," Eramo said in the interview.

The University of Virginia's handling of sexual assault allegations has received national attention following the publication of a Rolling Stone story that follows a student named "Jackie" who says she was violently raped by seven men at a fraternity party in her first year.