Read the rest of GQ’s special report on Cornell here and here. Cornell is situated among the gorges of Ithaca, New York, and I drove up from New York City to understand how men were making sense of a civil suit brought in September by an anonymous accuser, called Jane Doe in legal documents and media reports, alleging that she was plied with ketamine and sexually assaulted by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024. All the men have denied wrongdoing.
Jane Doe’s suit also alleges that Cornell failed to appropriately safeguard her from sexual assault. University administrators acknowledged that they had “fallen short and [are] taking meaningful action.” According to punishment summaries obtained by The New York Times, Cornell had conducted a Title IX investigation, which resulted in the expulsion of two fraternity brothers and suspension of two others. The Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office declined to pursue criminal charges. (New York governor Kathy Hochul criticized the Cornell police and the Tompkins County DA for their handling of the allegations and appointed attorney general Letitia James as a special prosecutor to investigate.) Among the materials included in Jane Doe’s suit was a photograph of a phone displaying a Chi Phi group chat, with reportedly more than 50 people, in which one of the men advertised Jane Doe’s “free pussy.” Some cheered.
One asked if “the shop” was still open. In the screenshot, not a single voice raised an objection. Men’s perspectives have been underreported during past sexual assault crises, perhaps out of the well-intentioned belief that we should prioritize listening to women.
But when such moments to object to a woman’s dehumanization arrive, I wanted to know, why do men so often stay quiet? Several people told me that my trip coincided with Ithaca’s most beautiful season, and, in person, the landscape did indeed look quintessentially autumnal. (My visit also coincided with the time of year in 2024 that Jane Doe alleges her assault in the Chi Phi house took place.) In the Arts Quad, Oscar, 21, was on his way to class, although he didn’t seem to have anything with him besides his phone. He was dressed in sweats and a boxy yellow tee, and he told me that he had joined a fraternity because he wanted to make friends.
He had just left a Sexual Assault Prevention and Safety Club meeting for members of sororities and fraternities, where he and other students had discussed how the Greek system can develop stronger guardrails. One promising approach, he told me, was to delegate prominent members of frats to speak up about sexual assault. Over by the Library or “Libe” Slope, an idyllic stretch of lawn on a rolling hillside, two guys tossed a Frisbee.
I sat on the bench next to theirs while they hydrated. Look how broken the world is.” I started looking around for other male role models. Near Sage Chapel, a non-sectarian church on campus, two clergymen visiting the campus said they hadn’t known about the Chi Phi case until that morning.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
