What happened: Last month, New York prosecutors reopened the case of a woman who claimed that she was sexually assaulted by seven men at Cornell University in October of 2024. As the story has gone viral over recent weeks, the line between presumption and fact has blurred to a dangerous degree.
Why it matters: At the end of the day, this story seems to have a clear victim and multiple abusers, but no one involved is innocent. And while blame is by no means shared equally, losing sight of that fact only makes it more likely that people will walk away learning the wrong lessons and that something like this will happen again.
The backstory: What happened at Cornell?
On September 28, New York prosecutors officially reopened the case of a woman—referred to as Jane Doe in the court documents—who claimed that she was sexually assaulted by seven men at a Cornell University frat house in October of 2024. Local police did not press criminal charges initially because Jane Doe’s sworn statement back then “described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”
However, last month she filed a civil suit against Cornell, the fraternity, and the seven men she alleges took part in her rape. The Cornell Daily Sun—the school’s newspaper—then ran a story that publicized the names of those involved, adding “We know who you are and we refuse to let you benefit from this University’s concealment.” The case started to make national headlines shortly thereafter and has continued to evolve as texts, Snapchat messages, and further details have been released.
While some aspects of what occurred are still heavily debated, enough seems clear to get at least a general idea of what happened that night:
- When Jane Doe arrived at the Chi Phi fraternity house, she had already been drinking heavily.
- She initially agreed to have sex with two members of the fraternity and went upstairs to do so.
- While upstairs, they continued to drink and started taking ketamine. It appears that most of the individuals involved in what happened that night did the same.
- Ketamine is often used as an anesthetic in a medical environment, but it has some hallucinogenic effects that can leave users feeling disconnected from their bodies and no longer in control.
- Eventually, a third male entered and joined them (male number one in her testimony had passed out by this point).
- Over the course of the night, four additional men would enter the room, though she reported having “difficulty remembering parts of what happened next.” As a result, who did and did not have sex with her is difficult to know for certain.
- During this time, a Snapchat message was sent to the fraternity members letting them know there was “free [sex] upstairs.”
- At the very least, they continued doing drugs until the third male and another individual came back up and put a stop to it.
Jane Doe returned to her sorority house later that day, and in the weeks that followed, there were conflicting reports about how her understanding of what had occurred that night evolved. Some friends remember her laughing about it, and she continued to exchange text messages with the two men she initially went there to be with, in which she assured them that “non(e) of the sexual stuff was illegal.”
That said, those close to her also believe she was still traumatized and struggling to adjust after word got out around campus of what happened. As one of her roommates told investigators, “I think she wanted it to be consensual,” adding that Jane Doe had been sexually assaulted before, so what happened that night reopened old wounds in addition to inflicting new ones.
Who is at fault?
As this story has gained traction, various parties have been quick to assign guilt. While most of the vitriol has been—rightly—directed at the men who took advantage of Jane Doe that night, she has received quite a bit of blame as well. Further complicating matters is the fact that the recently reopened case has yet to be litigated in court, even though it’s already been largely decided online.
But, as Carina Pacheco put it in her excellent article on this story, “it’s very possible for ‘immoral’ acts to be legal.” And New York’s laws on this subject only complicate matters further.
In New York, there are three degrees of rape that a person can be accused of. The first degree requires that the individual is either unconscious at the time of the act or physically forced into it. For the second degree, the victim has to be mentally incapacitated, though it does not apply if they reached that state by their own consent. Third-degree rape requires the victim to state that they do not consent.
In the case of Jane Doe, legal experts do not believe what happened would qualify for the first two categories since she was not incapacitated and partook of the drugs and alcohol of her own volition. Third-degree rape could be possible in some cases, but likely not for all seven of the men who are named in the case.
As a result, we’re left with a situation where it’s abundantly clear that what happened was wrong and abhorrent, but not necessarily illegal. And while the evolution of Jane Doe’s account of that night makes sense from the perspective of someone struggling to come to grips with a traumatic experience, the inconsistencies make it difficult to know who to believe and how much can be proven.
So, where do we go from here?
The warning I’ll give to my kids
When Cornell first conducted their investigation, two students were expelled, others were suspended, and an individual who had already graduated was banned from the campus. Moreover, the entire Chi Phi fraternity at Cornell was disbanded. And earlier today, they decided to ban fraternity parties for the rest of the academic year.
While that may not seem like enough to qualify as justice given what happened that night, it’s still hard to know what justice looks like under these circumstances.
At the end of the day, this story seems to have a clear victim and multiple abusers, but no one involved is innocent. Each of the people whose lives have been crushed by what happened that night played a part in engineering their fate. And each will have to live with the consequences of those choices.
As I think about how I will talk with my kids about stories like this when they get older, that’s the main lesson I’m taking away.
For my daughter, I want her to know that putting herself in a position to get hurt means that eventually she probably will be. Going to parties where alcohol and drugs are facilitating the worst in people is dangerous. Being alone in a room with one or more men in an environment like a fraternity house is dangerous. And if any part of that seems unfair, well, that’s too bad.
For my son, I want him to know that many of those same dangers apply to him as well, even if they might take a different form. Being around people who are doing dumb and immoral stuff can easily mean guilt by association, and going to parties with alcohol and drugs only increases the odds of that happening. Moreover, should he ever find himself alone with a woman—particularly in that kind of environment—her words are going to carry far more weight than his, both in the court of public opinion and in a court of law.
I’d also want both of them to know that if they ever see someone in a situation like Jane Doe experienced that night, sitting by and allowing it to happen is not acceptable. So much of the pain and suffering she experienced could have been avoided if even a few of the men in that house had decided to stand up against it. Likewise, what more could her friends have done to keep her from putting herself in that situation?
At the same time, none of us should count on the intervention of others to save us from the consequences of our own choices. And, ultimately, I want them to know that they are responsible for protecting themselves. What’s fair, what’s fun, or what other people are doing matters far less than taking the necessary precautions to ensure that a single, stupid choice doesn’t wreck the rest of their lives.
And those same principles apply to each of us as well. Putting them into practice gets more difficult, though, when the nature of those sins and temptations is less overtly evil than what happened at Cornell.
Spiritual application: Sins your past self would find unbelievable
The kinds of sins we see in this story—the drugs, the alcohol, the objectification of Jane Doe, the desire to have sex with at least two of these men in the same night, etc.—don’t just happen. Everyone associated with what occurred that night committed sins on a level that most would find reprehensible, but which seemed acceptable to them in the moment.
While you and I may look at this story and wonder how someone could get to the point where this volume of sins seemed like a good idea, each of us will be tempted to take a first step down a similar path. It may not be with drugs, alcohol, or sex, but that doesn’t mean Satan is without grand plans for where his temptations could eventually lead you if left unchecked. And saying yes to that first step could be all he wants from you today.
The story of David and Bathsheba is a fitting example of this strategy at work (2 Samuel 11).
David’s first sin was refusing to go to war with his army. His next sin was not looking away once he saw Bathsheba ritually purifying herself. After that, he continued to pursue the affair without actually acting on it by asking around to learn more about who she was.
At any point along this timeline, he could have stopped, repented, and fled from temptation. Instead, he summoned her to his bedchambers, had sex with her—which would most likely be considered rape today given the circumstances—and then sent her home. His sins would eventually escalate to ordering her husband’s death before taking her back into his home to become his eighth wife.
When David first decided to stay home rather than go to war, he could not have known where that sin would lead. If you’d told him at that point that he would end up conspiring to murder one of the highest-ranking members of his army—Uriah was one of David’s mighty men (2 Samuel 23:39)—after, at the very least, taking advantage of the man’s wife, it would have seemed beyond the pale of what he thought himself capable of doing. But our worst sins tend to seem far less unreasonable when we build toward them slowly.
So, where is Satan tempting you today? Are there any sins you’re currently committing that would seem abhorrent and impossible to a past version of yourself?
Take some time to ask the Holy Spirit to help you see yourself through that lens. Then repent and commit to making whatever changes are necessary to get off that path to destruction before it’s too late.
Let’s start right now.
