What to know about Cornell's alleged frat house gang-rape case and the 'Cornell 7'

WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it. It also contains vulgar language.

Alumni are threatening to pull funding, celebrities are lashing out and people are boycotting institutions associated with an alleged gang rape at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., currently igniting the internet.

The case came into the spotlight after the victim, known only as Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit on Sept. 16, alleging the private Ivy League university protected the seven men, now dubbed "the Cornell 7." She claims they drugged and assaulted her over several hours at a frat house in October 2024.

The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court and viewed by CBC News, alleges the assault happened on campus at the Chi Phi Fraternity house, and that one of the frat brothers sent a Snapchat message inviting other members to join them for "free pussy."

It further claims that the accused only faced temporary suspensions and "were afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays" to the university — a claim Cornell denies.

None of the fraternity members have been criminally charged. But the case has unleashed online fury, drawing comparisons to last year's Hockey Canada sexual assault trial in London, Ont., which saw all five players acquitted.

On Monday, the Tompkins County district attorney announced he was reopening the investigation.

"Once we determine the appropriate charges, the case will be prosecuted in the most objective and impartial means available — by testimony to the Tompkins County grand jury," district attorney Matthew Van Houten told CBC News in a written statement.

Cornell, in its own statement Monday, said it supported the DA's decision for a criminal grand jury to hear the woman's claims, but disputed the lawsuit's allegations about how the university punished the accused.

"Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false," Kyle Kimball, vice-president for university relations, said in a statement posted online.

The statement also said the on-campus Chi Phi chapter was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus.

Here's what to know about the case and why it's caused so much fury online.

What's in the lawsuit?

According to the lawsuit, the assault began the night of Oct. 19, 2024. Jane Doe, who was 20 at the time, had been drinking with her sorority, and again at a nightclub and then "stumbled" alone at 11 p.m. to the Chi Phi fraternity house on campus to visit a friend — one of the accused.

"Plaintiff was visibly intoxicated as she had consumed about 10 standard drinks within the past three hours," the lawsuit says. It also says the nightclub served the woman "at least one" alcoholic beverage even though it had marked an X on her hand showing she was underage.

At the frat house, she was given a beer, and her friend allegedly proposed a threesome with another member, to which she was too intoxicated to consent, the suit states.

The accused allegedly took her upstairs and led her to a room with another of the accused. She was pressured to snort ketamine, the lawsuit alleges, adding that she had never used that substance before. They also "plied her" with cannabis and rum, it says, after which the two men "began engaging in sexual acts with plaintiff, all without her consent."

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As they engaged in oral and vaginal sex, one of the accused also repeatedly slapped her buttocks, resulting in bruising, the lawsuit says. One of the men left to have a nap, and another entered the room. The two remaining men then began another alleged assault on the woman.

At 1:42 a.m., one of them sent a Snapchat message to the rest of the fraternity, claiming there was "free pussy." The suit includes an image of the alleged message, and some of the purported responses from the accused, including, "like you can walk in and whip it out."

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According to the suit, "multiple" other fraternity members then entered the room. One of them allegedly put ketamine on his erect penis and told the woman to snort it, which she did. The men then began snorting the substance off her naked body, the suit states. Two men took her to another room, where they allegedly assaulted her again.

The alleged incident ended at 5:45 a.m., and Jane Doe passed out. She returned to her sorority house "in a state of shock," the documents state, and soon realized the events were becoming "public knowledge" on campus.

She reported it a few weeks later to the Cornell University Police Department around Nov. 8, 2024. She alleges the seven accused were issued temporary suspensions and allowed "to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays."

The university released a statement and investigated, but ultimately closed it at a later date, according to the lawsuit.

Jane Doe suffered "severe emotional and psychological distress and personal physical injury" due to the alleged assault and the university's purported handling of it, the lawsuit says. She is suing the seven men, the Chi Phi fraternity, the university, Moonies Bar and Nightclub and others, seeking undisclosed damages.

The seven Chi Phi members named in the lawsuit are Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar.

"Ms. Doe has had her dreams destroyed as a result of what has happened to her," her lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, told CBC News in a written statement.

"The fact that her trauma has been made public has been very  difficult. However, she has been gratified by the outpouring of support that she has received from the public."

Online backlash to 'the culture of rape'

As the lawsuit made headlines, the backlash was swift. Online, Cornell alumni called on each other to stop donating to the school. Some people publicly turned down their acceptances, and others launched campaigns targeting the university, the local police and the various workplaces of the so-called "Cornell 7."

The seven accused were outed by Cornell's student newspaper editorial board on Sept. 21 in an editorial titled, "Cornell won't, we will."

A former South Park writer launched a website to expose the accused. Actors Josh Gad and Florence Pugh posted online condemning the alleged assault and what the lawsuit described as the university's handling of it.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned what she called a "culture of rape" at elite institutions while speaking about the alleged incident, at a town hall in Ithaca over the weekend.

"This is a culture, this is norms, these are practices," said Ocasio-Cortez, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. “What we must do is understand that we cannot protect those spaces anymore.”

Cornell's response

The university said in a statement Monday that it conducted its own investigation at the time and issued sanctions, including expelling some students and suspending others.

In response to the claims, Cornell said "none of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement."

The school said it conducted an internal disciplinary investigation in 2024. It said a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days, and both the woman and the accused testified and presented evidence.

In a statement last week responding to the lawsuit, Cornell said federal privacy law barred it from disclosing specific information on individual students.

Reopening the case

Van Houten, the district attorney, said Monday that in light of the attention the case has received, he wanted to clarify why the original investigation did not result in criminal charges. He said that Jane Doe went to campus police at the time, but did not, in her initial sworn statement, make any claims of being gang-raped or drugged.

"On the contrary, Jane Doe’s statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious and consensual," he said.

The prosecutor also said the woman's attorney did not contact him about her statement or about reconsidering the decision not to prosecute.

'She was traumatized'

Giuffra, Jane Doe's lawyer, defended his client while blaming the university police investigation.

"In the days following the assault, she was traumatized, numb and unable to function or accept the horror of what had happened. She was in self-preservation mode," Giuffra told CBC News.

He questioned why she wasn't contacted by the DA's office or any investigators trained in interviewing rape survivors.

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"It is challenging for me to understand how a thorough criminal investigation could have been conducted when she ... never spoke with anyone other than the officer who took her original complaint," Giuffra added. 

Multiple media now report that the seven accused men have sought legal representation. CBC News has reached out to Jeremy Saland, one of the lawyers identified, and has not yet heard back. But Saland told BBC his client denies the allegations.

His client "responded to and made an immature comment on Snapchat," but "did nothing else," the outlet reported. Saland said his client "was involved in no sexual activity nor touched the plaintiff in any way and ingested no ketamine."

If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database. ​​