The Cornell gang rape allegations
I suppose you’ve read about the Cornell fraternity gang rape allegations:
New details are emerging in the case of a former Cornell University student who claims she was drugged and gang-raped for multiple hours inside a fraternity house in October 2024.
The woman — identified only as Jane Doe, who was 20 at the time of the alleged incident — recently filed a civil lawsuit against seven then-Chi Phi fraternity members and the university, claiming they failed to protect her and prevent the alleged assault. While Cornell conducted an internal investigation, and expelled or suspended several of the men, no criminal charges were brought against the accused at the time.
The Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office confirmed on Monday, Sept. 28, that it will be reopening the criminal investigation amid pressure from the community and will bring the evidence to a grand jury. The DA said the woman’s sworn statement from November 2024 was different from what she alleges in the civil lawsuit, while her attorney claims investigators never followed up on her allegations.
You need to read the whole thing to get the picture of what is being alleged and whether her story changed. She initially was very drunk but says the sex was consensual, but then other men entered the scene and the situation changed to rape, although her memory is murky due to having ingested multiple substances. As with so many such cases, it becomes virtually impossible to tell what really happened, except that it reflects very poorly on everyone involved.
Because I’ve been blogging so long, I have written on the subject before – not about the Cornell case, but on related cases. Here’s a post of mine that’s nearly twenty years old but still relevant. Please read.
ADDENDUM:
I’m completely with Paglia on this:
The eternally-validated Camille Paglia on the Cornell case.
"The sexual revolution must be undone because middle-class women can't handle it. They cannot take responsibility for their own actions."
pic.twitter.com/FEXSjUd7M0— Suffragent (@Suffragent_) October 1, 2026
I know: Body cams required for sex!
In a nutshell:
1. “Believe all women!”
2. “I don’t know what a ‘woman’ is. Don’t bully me into giving you a definition. I’m a Supreme Court justice, not a biologist…’”
I don’t particularly want to delve into the details of this case. However, my advice to my daughters when they went to college was, watch what you drink (including literally watching your drink), and get out of the party before it gets late and wild.
Huxley’s suggestion is only half a joke.
It’s all a bit murky and contradictory, but even Sunny Hostin said, based on her reading of the 2024 original statement, that there was no evidence of rape at the time. In particular, Hostin said that according to NY law, getting voluntarily intoxicated does not make one incapable of consent. The woman subsequently changing her story doesn’t giver her a lot of credibility.
Different details but it sure looks like a sequel to the Duke and UVA rape hoaxes. And just in time to get liberal women and their male white knights riled up for the midterms,
Follow the money? Some lawyer thinks this might be a gold mine.
@Marisa: And just in time to get liberal women and their male white knights riled up for the midterms,
Yes. Between now and the midterms I’m running every big news story through a “How does this affect the midterms?” filter.
Not all will, but the question must be asked.
I know: Body cams required for sex! — huxley
Ha! Why stop there? Legal agreements first.
There’s an old film that is kind of a rom-com disguised as a trashy violent sci-fi movie, called Cherry 2000 (1987).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092746/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_cherry%20200
Check out the beginning of the trailer.
If women want to be considered equal to men, then they have to start acting responsibly. Being underage, going to a bar, getting drunk and agreeing to a hookup with at least one man is not being responsible.
What she said at the time is irrelevant. She admitted to voluntarily ingesting ketamine, which is known to cause hallucinations. Is her account factual, or imaginary?
The police made the right call. Without corroborating testimony or evidence, her statements are completely impeachable.
Her memory now, years later, holds about the same value.
@buddhaha: She admitted to voluntarily ingesting ketamine, which is known to cause hallucinations.
Ketamine?
That’s not just colors, trails and basic acid hallucinations. That can be a total space-out into different realities. It’s also addictive in a way acid isn’t.
At mild doses it can be a party drug.
Matthew Perry died while on ketamine.
“It’s Deja vu all over again”. Sounds like the frat boys never heard of the Duke University lacrosse team case. Fortunately, that case had a happy ending.
Ok…Who raises their son and sends ’em to a prestigious university without somewhere along the way saying, “Gangbangs are wrong. Just DON’T!”
Fellas…who among you wants to be the 3rd or 5th guy in the train?
Mark me on Paglia’s side here…but guys we need to lift the game.
I’m with Paglia, too. I’ll add that it would be wonderful if young women all got very practical advice about what potentially fraught sexually undesirable situations look like as they begin to develop.
I was SO naive when I went off to Penn State and discovered the fun of fraternity parties and male attention in general. Had two close calls because I trusted that we were all just trustworthy students having general fun getting to know each other.
Shudder.
These guys have to be thinking ‘if only we were members of Hamas and the woman was Jewish… the Ivy league intelligentsia would be celebrating us in the streets!’
@ RigelDog: “Had two close calls because I trusted that we were all just trustworthy students having general fun getting to know each other.”
While not all men in fraternities nor women in sororities are vain stupid party animals before all else, I have to wonder if there were programs run by junior and senior women students to train/ educate the freshmen/sophmore students??
Same for the male side?
@ R2L > ” I have to wonder if there were programs run by junior and senior women students to train/ educate the freshmen/sophmore students??
Same for the male side?”
Read Jane Austen: there was a reason for the social restrictions and sex taboos, taught to the young by their elders and enforced by the community.
But that’s oppressive misogynistic white patriarchy and ruins all the fun.
@John Guilfoyle: Mark me on Paglia’s side here…but guys we need to lift the game.
Exactly how do “we guys” do that? Fraternity parties, gangbangs and such have never been part of my world.
When people complain about “men” they are usually complaining about a minority, even a small minority, of men.
Exactly how do “we guys” do that? Fraternity parties, gangbangs and such have never been part of my world.
==
Without a doubt, there’s no shortage of young men on the Cornell campus who avoid this sort of thing. With scant doubt, the young woman in question had no interest in any of them.
Another item in the file marked, ‘tertiary schooling should generally consist of short and focused courses of study”. Posit a model program would consist of a calendar year (48 credits) worth of courses to instruct one in a specific occupation preceded commonly with some time at a preparatory institute (say, six months or 25 credits on average) where you take a standard menu of courses in cognate academic subjects.
— huxley
There was an incident several years ago in which a young woman claimed 2 men had raped her (in a bathroom stall IIRC). They were in deep trouble until it turned out one of them had videoed the incident secretly (so he was no saint himself). The video clearly showed that she had been a willing participant at the time. The rape charge collapsed.
— Ray
The Duke case was in 2006. The UVA stroy was, IIRC, 2014.
These fratguys are presumablly 18-22. They would have been -2 to 2 at the time of Duke and 6 to 10 for UVA.
To people that age, those stories are a very long time ago. It’s a good chance at least some of these guys have never heard of either.