A sexually charged case that roiled Cornell University two years ago has exploded onto the national stage, fueling a fierce debate over sex, consent and criminality in college hookup culture.Seven former Chi Phi fraternity brothers are accused in a civil lawsuit of drugging and raping a female Cornell student during a night of drinking, drugs and group sex at their fraternity house in October 2024.The accuser, identified in court papers by the pseudonym Jane Doe, alleges the men sexually assaulted her after she arrived intoxicated and was pressured into taking ketamine and other substances.The men have denied wrongdoing, with some maintaining the sexual activity was consensual and others denying they participated in it.
No criminal charges have been filed against the seven men.At the center of the controversy are sharply conflicting accounts of what happened that night — including differences between what Doe said in the weeks afterward, what prosecutors say they received from Cornell police and the explosive allegations contained in a civil lawsuit filed nearly two years later.The Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University, left, and New York Gov.Kathy Hochul with Attorney General Letitia James, right.
James has opened an active criminal investigation into sexual assault allegations stemming from an October 2024 incident at the fraternity house.(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who initially declined to pursue charges, has said Doe's November 2024 sworn statement did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped and instead described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as "voluntary, conscious, and consensual."Doe was 20 years old and a Cornell undergraduate when the events at the center of the case unfolded on the night of Oct.
19, 2024.According to her lawsuit, Doe began the evening drinking vodka at her Tri Delta sorority house before attending a sorority social event at a dow...