Seven Accused, Two Expelled, and a Culture That Refuses to Change

There is a particular weight that settles on a campus when the stories that circulate in whispers finally find their way into the harsh light of public documents. For Cornell University, that moment arrived in September, when a 101-page civil lawsuit alleged that a twenty-year-old student had been drugged, incapacitated, and sexually assaulted by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity at their house on campus. The lawsuit, filed under the pseudonym Jane Doe, described a night in October 2024 when she was pressured into taking ketamine, plied with alcohol, and assaulted over several hours while a Snapchat group chat allegedly invited other fraternity members to join . The allegations have reopened a criminal investigation and prompted an independent review by outside counsel—but they have also renewed a more persistent question: why do fraternities, again and again, find themselves at the center of such cases?

The details laid out in the lawsuit are graphic and difficult to read. According to the complaint, Jane Doe, then a sorority member, was invited to the Chi Phi house by a friend. Once there, she was given ketamine—a drug she had never taken—and consumed enough alcohol to become incapacitated . The lawsuit alleges that two men propositioned her for a threesome, and when she was unable to consent, the assault began. A Snapchat message sent at 1:42 a.m. to the fraternity’s group chat reportedly announced there was “free pussy upstairs,” and several members responded and entered the room . The assault lasted for hours. When Jane Doe reported the incident to campus police about three weeks later, the fraternity and seven of its members were placed on temporary suspension. A Title IX investigation followed, resulting in what Cornell describes as a range of sanctions, including expulsions and suspensions. The lawsuit claims, however, that some of the accused were allowed to “mitigate their conduct” by writing essays—an allegation Cornell denies as a sole consequence .

The case has drawn national attention not only for the severity of the allegations but for the institutional response. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten initially declined to prosecute, explaining that Jane Doe’s initial sworn statement to campus police did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang-raped. He said her statement described the drug use and sexual conduct as “voluntary, conscious, and consensual” . That decision was revisited after the civil lawsuit was filed and made public, prompting Van Houten to reopen the investigation and announce that he would present evidence to a grand jury. “Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence,” he said . New York Governor Kathy Hochul subsequently called for an independent review and appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor, saying she had “lost faith” in the local district attorney’s handling of the case .

For Cornell, the case is not an isolated incident but the latest in a long history of fraternity-related misconduct. The university has repeatedly attempted reforms over the decades. In 2019, after a freshman died at the bottom of a gorge following a hazing incident, Cornell required Greek chapters to hire independent event monitors and submit to random security checks . In 2018, a fraternity was placed on probation over a contest members called the “Pig Roast,” referring to the weight of women they had slept with. In 2022, sexual assault allegations and drugging incidents at off-campus fraternity housing led the university to temporarily suspend fraternity parties . Yet the problems persist. As Elizabeth Allan, a professor of higher education at the University of Maine, told the Associated Press, failed reforms show “how entrenched some of the behaviors are and that we need to take an approach that’s transformative” .

The parallels to other high-profile cases are difficult to ignore. Legal experts have noted striking similarities between the Cornell allegations and the 2025 Hockey Canada sexual assault trial in London, Ontario, where five former World Junior players were acquitted of assaulting a woman in a hotel room in 2018. In that case, as in this one, a group message invited other men to join, and the response of elite institutions came under intense scrutiny . Toronto lawyer Gillian Hnatiw, who specializes in gender-based violence, described both as examples of exclusive male organizations where “no one stepped in to stop a woman from being harmed”—a continuation, she said, of “locker room culture” .

Cornell has said it conducted a “thorough Title IX investigation” and imposed meaningful sanctions, including expulsions. The university has also agreed to the outside review demanded by the governor . The Chi Phi chapter remains barred from campus, and the national organization said the Cornell chapter voted to remove the accused members from its rolls . But for critics—including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who spoke at a forum near campus and condemned what she called a “culture of rape” protected at elite institutions—the response has been insufficient . The criminal investigation is now in the hands of a special prosecutor, and the civil lawsuit proceeds. What remains is the question that has followed fraternities for generations: whether an institution built on brotherhood can also be one that holds its members accountable when that brotherhood becomes a shield.

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Sources: CNN, AP News, CBC News, Franceinfo, RTBF, New York Daily News, Courthouse News Service