The reopening of the case against what is being dubbed the “Cornell Seven”, a group of seven Cornell University fraternity members who allegedly gang-raped a fellow student in 2024, has sparked overwhelming outrage. The lawsuit from the former student alleges she was assaulted for hours by the seven men who discussed the incident as it unfolded in a fraternity group chat.
As details about the alleged incident and the handling of the internal investigation at Cornell come to light almost two years after it was reported, palpable anger and disbelief have swept online.
The university’s own student-run news publication, The Cornell Sun, has penned a scathing editorial. In the piece, they note that when it comes to students caught cheating on a prelim exam, they receive “a written notice with the evidence, three business days to demand a hearing and resolution of their case within two weeks.”
However, “when it comes to sexual assault, Cornell’s five-month-late response was a task force” co-led by Dean of Students Marla Love, who told The Sun, “the charge was never for us to solve the problem.”
Elsewhere, former South Park writer Toby Morton spent recent days setting up a website, TheCornell7.org, to “document the account of the woman who was sexually assaulted.”
The website reads: “The goal is to build a record that can withstand scrutiny. This will take time. I will be careful. It will be documented.”
Morton has also called out messages from strangers, mostly men, asking him to stop and revealed he intends to uncover information about “those employed at Cornell” he alleges offered the seven accused a “break”.
It’s a sombre reminder that for every case like the Cornell Seven, there are countless more that go unreported. One look at how it was first handled, and it’s not hard to see why.
What Did The Cornell 7 Do?
New York prosecutors have reopened an investigation into allegations made by a former Cornell student who was allegedly gang-raped by seven fellow students and members of Chi Phi at their fraternity house on the Ivy League campus in October 2024.
According to the woman, who appears under a pseudonym in the filing, the assault occurred after she was pressured into taking drugs and drinking alcohol, rendering her incapacitated.
The lawsuit claims that on the evening of the assault at around 1.42 am, a message was sent in a Chi Phi Snapchat group suggesting a woman was available for sex.
“Shop still open?” one fraternity brother wrote later, to which another responded, “Yea.”
The suit alleges more men entered the room where the assaults continued until 5.45 am.
The former student went to the police three weeks later, and an internal investigation was conducted by the university, with the fraternity and the seven accused placed on temporary suspension, some further expulsions were made, but no criminal charges were laid. Further details on the sanctions were not released by school officials.
“Other than her initial contact with Cornell Police, she was not contacted by investigators from the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office or any investigators trained in interviewing rape survivors,” her attorney Thomas Giuffra said in a statement to CBS News.
Earlier this month, the woman filed a civil suit against the seven men and Cornell University, claiming they failed to prevent the assault and failed to protect her.
The lawyers representing the woman allege that the fraternity members “were afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell.”
Cornell responded, stating that “none of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement.”
“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false.”
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