For generations, many elite universities have defended Greek life as a pillar of campus community, leadership, and tradition. Fraternities are marketed as spaces where students build lifelong friendships and professional networks. Yet a lawsuit filed against Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity and several of its fraternity members presents a drastically different picture: one in which institutional prestige may have mattered more than accountability and protecting female students.
A former Cornell student, identified in court filings as Jane Doe, has sued Cornell, the Chi Phi fraternity, and seven current or former fraternity members, alleging that she was drugged and raped by multiple fraternity members at the chapter’s Ithaca house in October of 2024. According to the lawsuit, she was incapacitated after being coerced into consuming ketamine and was subjected to seven hours of sexual violence by several fraternity members, identified as Matthew Ingalls, Jonathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris, and Scott Kretzschmar. One of the fraternity members allegedly also sent a message in the fraternity’s Snapchat group, claiming that there was “free pussy” upstairs in the Chi Phi house, encouraging other members to sexually assault the victim as well. The allegations remain unproven, and the defendants will have the opportunity to respond in court.
“What happened to me was horrific and deeply disturbing,” the plaintiff told the Cornell Daily Sun, going on to say that she “[carries] the weight of its impact every day and night.”
But regardless of how the litigation unfolds, the lawsuit raises uncomfortable questions about the culture that allows violence against women to persist on college campuses and the institutions that too often fail to respond with meaningful urgency.
According to the lawsuit, Cornell conducted an investigation and disciplinary process following the alleged assault. The plaintiff’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra, has stated that only two of the seven accused fraternity members were expelled, while others allegedly received lesser sanctions, including workshops and written essays. “Not one of those guys was arrested. Not one. That I can tell you for a fact,” Giuffra told CBS News.
Cornell has defended its handling of the case, stating that its Office of Civil Rights and Office of Student Conduct investigated the allegations “consistent with university policies.” The University also confirmed that the Xi chapter of Chi Phi “remains barred from our campus.” When asked about disciplinary outcomes, Cornell stated that “federal privacy law prohibits Cornell from disclosing specific information regarding individual students.”
The plaintiff ultimately withdrew from Cornell following the alleged assault, according to her attorney. That fact alone highlights a reality often lost in administrative statements and legal filings. When sexual violence occurs, the consequences are not limited to a single night. Survivors frequently face academic disruption, psychological trauma, social isolation, and the loss of educational opportunities they worked years to achieve. “She’s not in college anymore because of this,” Giuffra said. “She’s barely hanging on for what these guys did to her.”
Cases like this are frequently discussed as isolated scandals, but they are better understood as part of a broader feminist issue: the persistent failure of institutions to protect women from gender-based violence. For decades, universities have promised safety, equity, and opportunity while too often leaving female students to bear the consequences when those promises fall short.
Whether through inadequate prevention efforts, meager disciplinary processes, or a reluctance to challenge powerful campus organizations, institutions frequently place their reputations above the well-being of the women they are meant to serve. The message to female students is clear: their safety is not valued. The allegations in the Cornell lawsuit remain to be tested in court, but the questions they raise extend far beyond one fraternity or one university.
If higher education is serious about gender equality, protecting female students cannot be treated as a public relations concern or a legal liability. It must be treated as a fundamental obligation.
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