In Between Classes: Cornell and Ivy League Accountability
Graphic by Marcus Morales
By Fiona Fahey
Scattered along America’s northeastern coastline are eight of the world’s most prestigious universities. The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference known not only for its athletic successes, but also for its globally recognized academic and research prowess. Graduation from one of these institutions – such as Yale, Harvard, Princeton, or Dartmouth – all but guarantees the initiation of a secure future. With average acceptance rates ranging from 4% to 6%, Ivy League students have earned the reputation of being hard-working and diligent young adults. As a nationwide scandal reveals cracks in the nearly century-old educational system, students across the country have begun asking: What does accountability look like for the United States’ most treasured institutions?
Located in the Finger Lakes region of Ithaca, New York, Cornell University is the most inland of the eight Ivy League schools. The private research institution currently serves nearly 16,200 undergraduate scholars, whom they hope will “improve the quality of life in [New York], the nation, [and] the world.” This call to public service, however, directly clashes with what some believe is an ongoing attempted cover-up on campus.
On September 16, 2026, an unnamed former Cornell student, known publicly as Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit alleging that she was “gang raped” by several men from the university’s Chi Phi fraternity in 2024. The lawsuit names not only Cornell and Chi Phi, but also seven current and former students, the former president of the Chi Phi chapter, numerous Cornell sororities, a local bar and several unnamed individuals.
Doe claims that on October 19, 2024, she spent her night at a sorority event at local university hotspot, Moonies Bar, before heading to the Chi Phi house alone. Doe, who is said to have been 20 years old at the time, was severely intoxicated after being served “hard liquor” at Moonies.
The lawsuit claims that Doe was coerced into snorting ketamine at the house by two fraternity brothers whom she considered friends before being brought to a room where, she alleges, the two raped her. In a Snapchat group named “Chi Phi Actives,” which included over 50 male users, one of the alleged attackers encouraged other members to join in on the assault, referring to Doe as “free p*ssy.” Five other Chi Phi brothers are then said to have entered the room, commanding Doe to consume further substances until she was unconscious, before “gang raping” her for several hours.
The alleged assault was first reported to the Cornell Police Department on November 8, 2024. The Chi Phi chapter was subsequently placed under a temporary suspension. Two of the alleged attackers were expelled, while others received minimal punishment and were asked to merely write essays to the university, according to Doe’s lawsuit. One of the men then reached out to Doe after her initial report.
“I feel so bad for you, dude,” he texted.
Following a brief and seemingly inconclusive Title IX investigation, the story was quietly filtered out by the campus news cycle.
It wasn’t until September 18, 2026, when Cornell’s student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, broke the story, that it reached the eyes and ears of a national audience. In a piece entitled “Cornell, Chi Phi Sued by Victim of Alleged Gang Rape, Drugging in 2024,” student reporter Cereese Qusba named each of the alleged attackers, now known online as the “Cornell 7.” They are Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar.
The internet immediately got to work locating each of the men’s places of employment and called for their individual criminal punishments. One outraged X user wrote that all of the “Chi Phi Actives” group chat members should be “shamed out of existence” and Cornell officials who “hid” the alleged assault should be “fired and arrested.”
Despite the incident initially being reported nearly two years earlier, some Cornell students were shocked to have never heard of it. On September 28, the Tompkins County (Ithaca) district attorney reopened the 2024 investigation into Doe’s alleged assault. He told ABC News, though, that the allegations made in the 2026 lawsuit were “drastically different” than those made in the initial report and his office needed to determine if there was any additional evidence that they were “not aware of” in 2024.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul held a press conference on October 2 to announce that New York Attorney General Letitia James had been appointed to prosecute the case on a state level. Hochul then expressed her deep dissatisfaction with the Cornell and Tompkins County Police Departments, which she believes purposefully hid information from state prosecutors and ultimately “failed” Doe.
“She could not have been clearer that she was 100% confident that she had been raped,” Hochul said. “Yet, shockingly, those words never made it into the account that the Cornell Police sent to prosecutors.”
In a statement issued on September 28, Cornell shot back at claims that their 2024 investigation into Doe’s report was intentionally unsuccessful. Its Title IX panel “issued a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions,” the statement said, and “none of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence.” Anyone who claimed otherwise, they said, was lying.
Cornell’s University President Michael Kotlikoff broke a weeks-long silence on October 3 to announce in a video statement that an outside law firm plans to conduct an independent review of Doe’s claims. He acknowledged that the university “does not have all the answers” and said that they plan to do better in handling cases of sexual violence in the future.
As the nation waits for a grand jury to decide whether or not Ingalls, Newell, Lee, Lopes, Sarabia, Norris and Kretzschmar will face formal criminal charges, women everywhere have started to share their own stories of sexual violence. In a series of online videos known as the “I Am Jane Doe” movement, women have referred to themselves under the moniker and expressed that knowing a victim’s identity isn’t as important as listening to their story.
Doe herself told Cornell’s Daily Sun that she has been“deeply disappointed” by not only the university’s response to her initial report, but the lack of student support on campus. Friends stopped calling, party invites stopped being sent, and a lively campus felt more like one big empty room.
“What I experienced was already devastating,” she said, “but that pain was compounded by being criticized and ostracized at a time when I needed compassion, support and care the most.”
Cornell launched the Presidential Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault in early 2025. The team, consisting of faculty members and students alike, is said to have developed a strategic framework in preventing sexual violence on campus following extensive research. The university says that they are actively working towards fostering a culture where “sexual misconduct is never tolerated” and “those who come forward are supported.”
The Ivy Leagues are the most prestigious educational institutions in the United States. With such distinguished reputations, students have vocalized their disappointment in their handling of Doe’s allegations.
During a campus demonstration at Cornell in support of Doe, student Athena Holloway expressed that students are often met with statements and procedures, but “not enough support.”
"How much does it take for our university to stand with survivors?" she said.
Despite national campus prevention policies, cases of sexual assault are still prevelant on college campuses across the country. The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) found that one in eight students experience sexual violence in college – making up nearly one third of all sexual crimes reported to law enforcement.
As Cornell president Kotlikoff insists that he “must do better” in handling future cases, a Hispanic studies professor at the university, Julia Chang, says that “rape should not be inevitable.”
College campuses are places for young people to begin paving their paths into adulthood. They are environments that encourage comradery, friendship and mutual success. With fear and outrage mounting in college students nationwide, some feel that campuses need to prioritize student safety and support now more than ever.
Max Klinefelter, a sophomore at Cornell, believes that colleges need to do more than extend support to students with words.
"I want to hear people that have interest in doing something," the 20-year-old said. "I need some action."
Fiona is a CCNY junior and native New Yorker who is majoring in Communications and Media Studies. Her dream is to work in a busy newsroom in the heart of Manhattan. She spends her spare time filling her ears with Irish music, showing her family members terrible films, and hanging around the five boroughs with her friends.
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