Disclaimer: As this lawsuit has not yet gone to trial and therefore no charges have been filed, everything in this article is alleged and not yet proven in the court of law.
The Laurier Sexual Assault Support Centre 24/7 support and crisis lines:
Waterloo: 519.741.8633
Brantford: 519.751.3471
Since the September 2026 filing of a civil lawsuit by Jane Doe against a group of men now labelled the “Cornell 7”, accusing them of gang rape in October of 2024, the reason victims of sexual assaults are petrified to come forward has been made crystal clear. Jane Doe – an undergraduate student at Cornell University and member of the Tri Delta sorority at the time of the alleged crime – has endured extreme harassment and had her words twisted by the press and public alike, leading to an enormous amount of injustices, false narratives and misconceptions being spread about this case.
On the night of Oct. 19, 2024, then 20 year old Jane Doe walked to the Chi Phi fraternity house on the Cornell University campus to visit her friend Matthew Ingalls. Upon arrival, Doe reported being “visibly intoxicated” after consuming 10 alcoholic beverages within the past three hours, and only having eaten 400 calories that day. Doe alleges that throughout the night she was pressured to consume more alcohol, marijuana and ketamine, all of which caused her to be extremely intoxicated and unable to consent to the subsequent sexual assaults. After an initial sexual encounter with two fraternity members (Matthew Ingalls and Jonathan Newell), Doe alleges that for the next seven hours, five additional members of the Chi Phi fraternity (Winston Lee, Diego Sarabia, Scott Kretzschmar, Scott Norris, and Gillio Lopes) entered the room at various times to perform sexual acts on the intoxicated Jane Doe and continuously pressured her to consume more drugs. Unbeknownst to Doe, horrific messages were being sent by the Cornell 7 in a Snapchat group chat called “Chi Phi Actives” which included 57 members of the Chi Phi Fraternity. Some of the messages include “free pussy in alum pu” sent by Newell, “like you can walk in and whip it out” and “boys come whip it out” sent by Ingalls, along with invasive photos of Jane Doe.
Jane Doe reported her experiences to the Cornell Campus Police Department (CCPD) in November of 2024, which led to a Title IX investigation and all seven being found responsible for various kinds of misconduct by a panel. Ingalls and Newell were found responsible for sexual assault and were expelled. Lee, Lopes and Sarabia were found responsible for non-consensual and/or forced sexual acts and were given suspensions/bans of up to three years. Lastly, Norris and Kretzschmar were found responsible for attempted sexual exploitation and had to attend sexual harassment training and write a reflection paper.
After the students were found responsible, the district attorney Matthew Van Houten’s office was sent a summary of the investigation’s findings (including the Snapchat messages), but decided not to prosecute the men because “Jane Doe’s sworn statement in November of 2024 did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped. On the contrary, Jane Doe’s statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious and consensual” Van Houten misquoted Jane Doe and according to her full initial statement to the CCPD, in regards to consenting to the initial sexual encounter with Ingalls and Newell, she states, “Yeah, as much as I can be because, again, I was super drunk when I got there … But I was pretty OK with all of this,” but continues by stating regarding the subsequent acts, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.” and “I felt like I was unable to make any decision because of how intoxicated I was.” Van Houten also released a summary of his findings in which Doe’s accounts were twisted, leading to her being mischaracterized to the press and public. Van Houten claimed, “When [Doe] learned that Male Number Two [Jonathan Newell] would be the third participant, Jane Doe ‘remembered being excited because [she] thought that [Jonathan Newell and Mathew Ingalls] wanting to have a threesome meant that they were gay’,” when in reality, Doe stated that she would have felt more comfortable if the third participant in the threesome was another woman but believed that Ingalls’ and Newell’s desire to have a threesome “meant that they were part of my community as I am bisexual.” and overall made her feel more comfortable and safe.
Since Jane Doe filed the civil lawsuit this past September, the case has become highly publicized on social media and many files pertaining to this case have been leaked. Leaked text messages from days and weeks following the alleged gang rape between some of the accused and Jane Doe have been circulating online and taken out of context. These in addition to the inaccurate statements from district attorney, Van Houten and denials from all defendants have led to Jane Doe receiving intense backlash.
Since the filing, Doe has been harassed, humiliated, doxed, swatted and labelled a liar before the case has even been investigated or gone to trial. Victims should be given the time, space, and opportunity to come forward about their experiences without the fear of being disgraced and criticized, but unfortunately that is still not the case in our society.
