By The Daily Wire (World News) | Created at 2026-10-05 15:30:58 | Updated at 2026-10-05 16:51:39
6 hours ago
Cornell’s president vowed to take a “serious look” at the role fraternities and sororities play in campus life as the “Cornell 7” case sparks a national reckoning over sex and drugs on American college campuses.
For the first time since the investigation was reopened, University President Michael I. Kotlikoff directly addressed the scandal involving the Chi Phi fraternity house and a female student identified as “Jane Doe.”
“What happened to Jane Doe in 2024 is deeply disturbing and will weigh heavily on our community for years to come,” Kotlikoff said in an eight-minute video statement. “My heart aches when I think of what she experienced.”
“This has been one of the most difficult weeks in our history, and I know many of you are angry, saddened, and struggling, and that those bonds are under extraordinary stress,” he added.
Kotlikoff said the unraveling scandal “raises heartbreaking and troubling issues” about the role party culture, alcohol, and drug use play in shaping the college experience.
“At their best, these organizations can provide students with friendship, belonging, mentorship, and a powerful sense of community. But being part of a group can never diminish individual responsibility for our own actions, for how we treat others, for speaking up when someone may be at risk,” Kotlikoff said.
He also appeared to question his own administration’s handling of the matter, which has burst onto the national stage after the accuser filed a civil lawsuit against the school and seven former Cornell students, seeking damages that could result in a significant payout if she prevails.
“I want to acknowledge something that can be difficult for an institution to say: we don’t have all the answers,” Kotlikoff said. “I believe we, as an administration, and we as a community, must do better. We must do everything we can to prevent what happened to Jane Doe and everyone before her, and anyone after her, from ever happening again.”
The salacious sex and drug-laced allegations stem from an October 2024 gathering at the Cornell-affiliated Chi Phi fraternity. The woman alleges she was drugged with ketamine and sexually assaulted by multiple fraternity members. She informed campus police of the alleged assault three weeks later. Attorneys for some of the men have denied the allegations and noted the original criminal investigation ended without charges, The Daily Wire reported.
Tompkins County, New York, District Attorney Matthew Van Houten initially found there was insufficient evidence to bring charges. He later reopened the investigation following Doe’s civil lawsuit. Since then, the seven men have faced intense scrutiny, prompting one “John Doe” to file his own lawsuit. In the filing, the former fraternity member acknowledged being present at the Chi Phi house on the night that the woman alleges she was raped — but claims Cornell University violated its own policies during the investigation.
In court documents filed in Tompkins County, Doe alleges that the university ultimately “found him responsible” for an offense for which he was neither charged nor given a chance to defend himself — which he said was a violation of policy.
Cornell’s hearing panel found Doe not responsible for sexual assault or sexual exploitation — the only two offenses he was charged with — but they found him responsible for Attempted Sexual Exploitation, concluding that he entered the room where the alleged assault was taking place intending to watch. Doe says he built his entire defense, including statements, evidence, and testimony, around the two charges he actually faced, and never got the chance to answer the third, The Daily Wire reported.
On Monday, ABC News obtained a phone call between Doe and Matthew Ingalls, the fraternity brother she went to see that October night. The two offered conflicting accounts. During the call, Doe insisted Ingalls knew she was “10 shots deep” and described the ordeal as “gang rape.” Ingalls, however, disputed her account, telling her that she had told him she was sober that night.
In a statement released by the DA’s office, Jane Doe described her intoxication level as “5 or 6 out of 10” and said she was “pretty OK with having this threesome.” In the phone call, however, Doe told Ingalls that she looked up from the bed “thinking that’s too many people” after Ingalls posted a crude message to other fraternity brothers: “Boys, come whip it out.”
Van Houten has said the woman’s original sworn statement described her drug use and sexual activity as voluntary, conscious, and consensual. All seven fraternity brothers have denied misconduct. Cornell expelled Ingalls and Jonathan Newell and suspended two others. As the case faces growing national scrutiny, University President Kotlikoff welcomed state intervention.
“We also support the governor’s decision to turn the criminal investigation over to the New York Attorney General, but we will not wait for the investigation or the review to be completed before we act,” he said.
