The Cornell 7 case is the public name for allegations that seven members of Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity drugged and sexually assaulted a fellow student at the fraternity house in Ithaca, New York, on the night of October 19–20, 2024. None of the men has been criminally charged. The claims are set out in a civil lawsuit filed in mid-September 2026 by the former student, identified only as Jane Doe, and remain untested at trial.
Doe, then 20 and a member of Delta Delta Delta, says she went to the Chi Phi house after a night of drinking. According to her complaint, members pressured her to use ketamine, marijuana, and alcohol, and she was assaulted over several hours while too intoxicated to consent. The suit alleges that a message in a Snapchat group called “Chi Phi Actives” advertised “free pussy upstairs,” after which more men entered the room. Messages cited in reporting also included “Shop still open?” The seven students named as defendants are Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris, and Scott Kretzschmar. The complaint also names Cornell, the national and local Chi Phi organizations, Doe’s sorority, and an Ithaca bar that allegedly served her while she was underage and visibly intoxicated.
Doe reported the incident to Cornell University Police on November 8, 2024. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten declined to take the case to a grand jury that year, later saying a police summary described her participation as voluntary and that he had not seen the full transcript or the Snapchat messages. Cornell opened a Title IX investigation in January 2025. University officials have said a hearing panel later expelled some students and suspended others, and that the Xi chapter of Chi Phi was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus. Reporting based on the university president’s remarks put the outcomes at two expulsions, two suspensions of at least two semesters, one student who had already graduated, and two findings of not responsible. Doe’s lawyers say lesser sanctions included workshops and essays. Cornell has denied that anyone was offered essays as a sole consequence.
The September 2026 lawsuit, and naming of the seven by The Cornell Daily Sun, turned the case into a national story. Van Houten reopened the criminal investigation on September 28. On October 1, Governor Kathy Hochul removed him from the matter and appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor, citing lost confidence in the original handling. As of early October 2026, the civil suit is pending and the criminal investigation is active, with possible presentation to a grand jury. The accused have not been convicted of any crime; several accounts given in the Title IX process described the contact as consensual.
SOURCES:
How the “Cornell Seven” Rape Case Became a National Scandal | The New Yorker
‘Cornell 7’: What happened with the case? – NBC Chicago
Cornell Seven
Cornell 7 Case: Latest Update as New York Attorney General Takes Over Investigation – Park Trails Guide
