Editor’s note: This article discusses allegations of sexual assault.
As we’re forced to hear over and over again all the details related to the so-called “Cornell 7” gang rape allegations, it’s important to consider what is and isn’t relevant, given that several young men are now potentially facing criminal charges to be brought by the hulking Letitia James, New York’s attorney general. Here are two things that, despite hype from a national news media heavily invested in convictions, definitely aren’t relevant.
That members of the Chi Phi fraternity had a meeting after the alleged incident in 2024 to discuss it. Thomas Giuffra, the attorney representing the accuser known as “Jane Doe,” is on TV almost daily making all types of wild claims. One of them this week is that Chi Phi convened at least one meeting some time after the alleged “gang rape” at the frat house “to try and cover this up and to be part of the conspiracy of silence.”
Public evidence is that Doe reportedly told police that two people, presumably Chi Phi members, entered the room where the incident took place and said they were “shutting it down,” which suggests they believed there was, at minimum, something inappropriate taking place. Something inappropriate, like, say, a drug-fueled orgy in a frat house. More evidence indicates the fraternity’s president was uneasy about what he had heard about the incident, having ultimately told members that Doe should not be admitted to an upcoming Halloween party.
That anyone who learned of the incident was horrified by what they witnessed or heard is not a scandal. I’d hate to walk in on anything similar anywhere, let alone in a place I do business or socialize. Nor is it a scandal that the fraternity members would discuss it at a meeting.
As of now, it’s unclear what was even talked about at the meeting. One Cornell student, a woman, reportedly told investigators, “Chi Phi held a meeting essentially to get all of the men on the same page about what happened. I know for a fact there are group messages about the situation.” An actual frat member, however, told police that there was no meeting called to specifically address the incident, but rather a regularly scheduled gathering. “We didn’t have a meeting about it specifically,” he said. “It was our weekly chapter meeting. We go through a bunch of stuff.”
One could imagine that “a bunch of stuff” might include instruction not to do drugs or have group sex in the frat house, even when it’s consensual. It’s also possible that members were given additional information on the incident, as is typical in any organization where a controversy or conflict takes place. It’s no different than a CEO convening a town hall to address mass firings or an embarrassing PR crisis. The point is usually a degree of transparency with everyone affiliated, not conspiracy. In such cases, it’s common for associates to be told that outside inquiries should be directed to a single point of contact, or perhaps to not say anything at all, lest they mistakenly misrepresent facts at hand. That’s not a cover-up.
That Doe was sad and cried a lot in the days after the incident. After rumors about what happened at the Chi Phi party sprinted through campus and onto the internet, Doe reportedly texted one of the men involved that she would only “sleep and cry all day.” True, but she also told him, “It’ll get better.” In any event, Doe on that night, by her own admission, had drunk to the point of intoxication, smoked marijuana, and snorted copious amounts of ketamine, a drug that induces euphoria.
I don’t think I’m breaking news when I say that a bender like that comes with more than just a hangover. It comes with a crash, which is often accompanied by anxiety and depression. I imagine those feelings are potentially compounded in a 20-year-old who might have engaged in some intense, perhaps even shameful, sexual activity while drunk and high.
Nobody could be blamed for feeling a sense of remorse or guilt after a night of partying. It’s normal and often times it’s justified. A person might do a lot of things under the influence that he or she wouldn’t do sober. But if it matters that Doe said she was sad, it matters equally that she also reportedly told people she was fine and that she assured others who were at the incident that nothing illegal in relation to sex had taken place.
Unless a person was physically present for that October night, he can’t say for sure what happened. Maybe yet-to-be-disclosed evidence will prove she was raped by several frat men. That’s not what the evidence so far indicates, but it’s still a possibility. But just because Doe’s attorney wants to make every detail a scandal doesn’t make it one. A lot of it doesn’t matter at all.
