09/28/2026
It is unfathomable that these men were not charged or expelled. It is shameful that not one man from the Snapchat group called police to report what was going on. We have to teach our sons to do better and to stand up and to be gentlemen. We need our public offices to do their jobs. And we need universities to do more to protect the safety and well being of all students.
Cornell’s Disciplinary Betrayal Demands Sweeping Legal and Institutional Reckoning
"Free p---y upstairs."
That was the message broadcast at 1:42 a.m. to a Snapchat group titled "Chi Phi Actives," summoning men into an upstairs bedroom at Cornell University while an incapacitated 20-year-old student lay on a bed.
According to the 101-page civil complaint, the plaintiff, Jane Doe, was pressured into consuming ketamine mixed with alcohol and ma*****na until she lost consciousness. Over the next four hours, as she drifted in and out of consciousness until roughly 6:00 a.m., she alleges fraternity members took turns assaulting her.
Today, Jane Doe’s college career is over. She was forced to withdraw from the university, while five of the men she accused had their academic standing preserved by administrators who treated an assault complaint like a code-of-conduct infraction.
The lawsuit explicitly identifies the seven members:
Matthew Ingalls
Jonathan Newell
Winston Lee
Gillio Lopes
Diego Sarabia
Scott Norris
Scott Kretzschmar
After local prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges under the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard, disciplinary authority fell entirely to Cornell. The university's response protected the institution rather than student safety.
Cornell held roughly a dozen internal hearings and settled on an administrative compromise. While two students were expelled, the remaining five received temporary suspensions, educational modules, and assignments to write "reflective essays." Requiring reflective essays reduces documented sexual violence to routine coursework and signals to the campus that accused students can negotiate administrative penalties.
When questioned, Cornell points to FERPA privacy rules, internal task forces, and student code language stating violations carry penalties "up to expulsion." Revoking the Chi Phi chapter's campus charter allows the university to penalize an abstract organization while leaving the individual members largely shielded from public scrutiny.
Attorneys representing the accused lean on the lack of criminal charges to assert their clients' innocence. But in federal civil court, the lawsuit proceeds under a preponderance-of-evidence standard. A jury will examine the Snapchat logs, the witness accounts, and the timeline Cornell administrators resolved through internal paperwork.
The lawsuit demands discovery into how an Ivy League institution settled allegations of coordinated sexual assault with reflective essays and preserved transcripts, placing the university's disciplinary record alongside the actions of the men in that room.
Following intense public outrage sparked by a 101-page civil lawsuit, prosecutors in central New York have announced they are officially reopening their investigation into the alleged gang r**e at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity. Public scrutiny forced this door back open. Do not let up now, keep the pressure on.
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