Thousands of Cornell University students and faculty marched Monday toward the institution’s main administrative building. The demonstration followed an incident the previous night in which vandals broke a glass door and spray-painted “Smash the patriarchy” on a wall.
Among the protesters’ signs were messages reading “Ban all frats” and “This is feminist rage.”
I did not see any signs urging students to “Stop binge drinking” or “Don’t do drugs.”
When my daughters were in elementary school, we used to joke about a mother who called out from her minivan to her four children every morning at drop-off, with the regularity of a cuckoo clock: “Make good choices!”
Now that my older daughter is in her final year of college, I have become that parent. I repeatedly remind her and her younger sister to consider who they are with, what they are consuming and how their choices could affect their own lives—and the lives of others.
I also tell my daughters that they may have to help a friend out of a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, that advice has become reality: my daughter has made several emergency-room visits with friends who said their drinks had been spiked.
And I warn them to avoid situations that could increase their risk of being harmed.
Before anyone with a smartphone and hopes of a CNN appearance accuses me of victim-shaming in connection with the alleged gang sexual assault at Cornell, let me be clear: young men must be held to the same high standards.
Protesters carried signs saying “Ban all frats” and “This is feminist rage.” I did not see any calling for students to “Stop binge drinking” or “Don’t do drugs.”
Cornell fraternity scandal leaves lives permanently damaged
Speaking hypothetically, hosting a ketamine-fueled orgy in a fraternity house with an open-door policy seems like a direct route to notoriety, with the potential to damage lives—and bring more immediate consequences as well.
To be clear, agreeing to a threesome is never consent to sexual assault. Still, it is not difficult to understand how an environment involving drugs, multiple partners and poor judgment could create serious risks.
My advice to young women and men entering adulthood is straightforward: keep intoxicants and other excesses under control.
It can be done.
Despite spending much of the 1990s near the world of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll at MTV, I avoided those temptations—including an NBA champion’s proposal to wager for my affection in a dice game. I walked away with New Jersey Nets tickets instead.
Young people, regardless of gender, need to understand that reckless behavior can carry lasting consequences.
Whatever ultimately happened inside the Chi Phi fraternity on October 19, 2024, and into the early hours of October 20, lives have already been profoundly damaged.
Expelled Cornell student reportedly banned from new university
The Daily Mail reported Wednesday that Jonathan Newell, 21, was among two fraternity members reportedly expelled by Cornell. He is alleged to have written a vulgar group-chat advertisement for “free [expletive]” that was sent to fraternity members.
Newell has been accused of sexual assault but has not been charged with a crime. The allegation and the offensive message may follow him for years. He has reportedly also been ordered to stay away from the Nova Southeastern University campus in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he enrolled earlier this year.
Matthew Ingalls, another former Chi Phi member who was expelled, offered a different account. In an email to Cornell obtained by ABC News, he alleged that he was sexually assaulted by Jane Doe that night.
“You received information that I was sodomized by her while I was incapacitated,” he reportedly wrote to the university. One of Ingalls’s neighbors told Our News Outlet that he has since left the country and returned to Dubai, where he attended high school.
And what about Jane Doe? Her identity hasn’t been revealed but surely students on Cornell’s campus know exactly who she is. Imagine the burden she will have to carry.
Undoubtedly, promising futures have been wrecked, or at least permanently marked by this incident. Though, listen to the crescendo of outrage on Cornell’s campus and around the country and no one seems to mention that.
These nuances bounce off the noggins of gender-justice warriors like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Florence Pugh like ping pong balls.
‘There is no equality until you respect our bodies. There is no equality until you stop damaging our souls… We are the life force of this earth, start [expletive] protecting us. Be angry for us. Please,’ Pugh wrote.
Cornell controversy sparks debate over personal responsibility
Without a doubt, if sexual assault occurred in that frat house the men responsible should go to prison. If Jane Doe was drugged, then heads should roll. If any one fraternity member witnessed a sexual assault or if they thought that Jane Doe was unable to consent and stood by, they must pay a price.
But what Pugh and her ilk haven’t said and likely won’t say is that gender equality comes with responsibility. What would Susan B Anthony and Ruth Bader Ginsburg say about the right to spend years at an elite institution like Cornell being drunk and stoned? Is that progress?
It isn’t victim shaming to encourage young women and men to protect themselves. Greasing up the outrage machine and hunting for scalps won’t necessarily change college culture for the better.
Cornell sophomore Quin Lewis said it best when she told the New York Times: ‘I think if you’re not angry there’s something wrong.’
I agree. And in this case, there is plenty of anger to spread around.
