The Cornell 7: A Drugging and Gang Rape Allegation, a Reopened Case, and a Group Chat of 57

Content warning: this article discusses alleged rape, sexual assault, drugging and sexual violence.

In the fall of 2024, a night at a Cornell University fraternity house became the center of a case that has now drawn national attention. It began with allegations against seven men, the "Cornell 7." It has grown into a larger question about the culture around them, and about what happened inside a fraternity Snapchat group of 57 members. None of the accused has been criminally charged, and they are presumed innocent. Everything described here is an allegation unless stated otherwise.

The night of October 19–20, 2024

A former Cornell student identified as Jane Doe says in a 101-page civil lawsuit that she enrolled at Cornell in 2022 and joined the Delta Delta Delta sorority, where she lived in the chapter house. On October 19, 2024, the suit says, she drank vodka at the sorority house, then went to a sorority event at a downtown Ithaca bar called Moonies Bar & Nightclub. The complaint alleges a house mother took her there knowing she was intoxicated, that her hands were marked to show she was under 21, and that she was served anyway. Moonies says that account is "completely inaccurate" and that its employees followed the rules.

After a second bar, the suit says, she left alone around 11 p.m. and walked to the Chi Phi house to see a friend who was a member. The complaint describes her as visibly intoxicated. According to court documents, she was pressured to take ketamine before being gang raped. The suit claims the assault lasted about seven hours, until 5:45 a.m., and that she felt unable to leave because her phone was on the other side of the room. At least one outlet has described it as lasting more than four hours, so durations vary between reports. She says she woke later that morning, returned to her sorority house, and found bruising that triggered fragmented memories.

Consent, capacity, and the contested first statement

A central dispute is what she agreed to and when. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has said that, in the summary of her November 2024 police statement, she described agreeing to a threesome with two members, partly from attraction and partly from "drunken curiousness." Her attorney disputes that characterization.

Whatever she agreed to at the start, consent to one act is not consent to everything that follows. The legal question is what she was capable of consenting to at the time of each alleged act, and incapacitation is central to that question. In Title IX testimony, Doe said two of the men were "just raping" her while she was "in and out of consciousness."

What the messages show

CBS News New York obtained video of the "Chi Phi Actives" conversation from the night of the alleged assault. One frame shows a quoted message timestamped 1:42 a.m. referring to "free" sex, followed by replies that treat the situation with excitement and humor. One says "I f—king love Chi Phi," and another says "Like you can walk in and whip it out." Another exchange has one member asking whether the "shop" is still open and others answering "Yea." The reporting does not identify who sent those messages, and the senders' names are obscured in the images.

The woman's attorney says a fraternity member who saw one of the messages in the chat later shared it with her, and that this became key evidence in the lawsuit. CBS also obtained screenshots of a text exchange two days after the alleged assault, in which one defendant appears to apologize for "how things went down" and says his memory of the night is "kinda fuzzy." The men's lawyers dispute the allegations.

A photograph of a screen does not show who wrote a message or when it was sent, and the chat alone does not establish what any of the 57 members saw or did. Those questions belong to investigators.

Seven defendants, fifty-seven members

The lawsuit names seven men as individual defendants: Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar. The suit says all were Cornell students and Chi Phi members at the time, and it describes Ingalls as the friend she went to see. The student defendants face claims of sexual assault, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The number 57 changes the question, but it does not change who is accused. Membership in a group chat doesn't establish criminal responsibility. It doesn't prove a member saw a particular message, understood what was happening, entered the room, or was even at the house that night. But it does raise questions investigators will have to answer with evidence:

• Who saw the messages, and who responded?

• Who was physically at the fraternity house, and who went upstairs?

• Who knew she was intoxicated or incapacitated?

• Who took photographs or videos, and who preserved evidence?

• Did anyone try to stop what was happening?

  
  

Her attorney has said multiple fraternity members knew about it. Van Houten has said his office never received the chat.

The accused respond

Two of the seven have responded publicly. Scott Kretzschmar's attorney, Jeremy Saland, has denied the allegations, saying his client never sexually assaulted or touched the plaintiff. Scott Norris said through his attorney that he briefly entered the room and participated in the group chat, but did not engage in sexual activity or drug use. He admitted sending a message included in the complaint. The allegations against individual men are disputed, and being present, joining a chat, using drugs, encouraging others, and committing an assault are not legally identical acts. Investigators must establish what each person did.

What Cornell did

After Doe reported the assault about a week later, the fraternity and the seven accused were temporarily suspended. Cornell began a Title IX investigation on January 14, 2025. In May 2025, its Title IX office held at least 12 hearings and conducted 50 interviews with 32 witnesses.

Two of the seven were expelled, while others received suspensions, workshops, or essay assignments. The lawsuit claimed defendants were allowed to "mitigate their conduct" with essays. Cornell called that claim irresponsible and denied that essays were the sole consequence for any defendant, confirming expulsions and suspensions. It has not publicly confirmed individual sanctions, citing student privacy law. Critics argue that even if essays were only part of the response, educational sanctions for allegations of this severity raise questions about whether the punishment fit the conduct.

Why there were no criminal charges

Cornell's disciplinary process and the criminal justice system are separate. In 2024, after receiving a six-page summary of Doe's statement, Van Houten declined to present the case to a grand jury. In a nine-page statement this fall, he said her sworn statement described her drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary and consensual and did not allege she was drugged against her will or gang raped.

That account has come under pressure. Reporting by The New York Times found that only a six-page summary of a 120-page interview transcript reached the district attorney. In a November 2024 interview with campus police, according to a transcript obtained by WCBS, Doe said she could say with 100% confidence she was raped, and she described consuming a heavy amount of ketamine and having various things poured on her body. Van Houten told CNN his office never received that transcript before deciding not to charge. He has said that if the account is accurate, his office should have been told what she said that was not in the summary. WSKG also found that Cornell edited its public FAQ page, removing a line saying campus police had shared all investigatory information with the district attorney. Cornell has not explained whether the transcript was part of what it sent. cornell investigation 1790883028 +4

The lawsuit and the institutions

The suit goes well beyond the seven men. It names Cornell, the Chi Phi chapter and national organization, Delta Delta Delta's local and national organizations, a former chapter president, and Moonies. It accuses Cornell of negligence, breach of contract, and violations of New York's Human Rights Law and Education Law, and it seeks compensatory and punitive damages. Tri Delta says it doesn't comment on pending litigation. Chi Phi's national headquarters called the allegations "deeply concerning." Doe ultimately dropped out of Cornell.

Backlash and a special prosecutor

Public outrage escalated over a single weekend, ending with the district attorney's announcement that the case would be reopened and sent to a grand jury. Ithaca's mayor called for a moratorium on student event permits, and a website listing the names of the seven accused men appeared online. Public naming of this kind carries risk, since the accused have not been convicted.

On October 1, Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor, citing newly released information about the original investigation. James has said her office is conducting an "active criminal investigation," and she replaces Van Houten as lead prosecutor. Cornell said it fully supports the appointment and agreed to an independent external review of how it handled the case, which is separate from the criminal investigation. President Donald Trump criticized James's appointment while appearing unfamiliar with the case. Cornell's president, Michael Kotlikoff, pledged greater transparency and said the university "must do better." The Chi Phi chapter was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus.

The bigger question

The Cornell 57 is ultimately about more than a number. It's about what happens when a group receives a message suggesting an intoxicated woman is available. It's about whether people recognize the difference between consent and availability, and what bystanders do when something looks wrong. And it's about whether institutions investigate thoroughly when the accused are students with promising futures and powerful institutions behind them.

Accountability also requires precision. The seven men shouldn't be treated as guilty because they've been accused. The other members of the chat shouldn't be treated as participants because their names may appear in a group chat. Those determinations belong to investigators, prosecutors and, if charges are brought, the courts.

The Cornell 7 are the seven men named in the lawsuit.

But the Cornell 57 represents the much larger question: when something terrible is happening in front of a group, who speaks up, and who chooses to remain silent?

That is a question investigators must answer with evidence, not assumptions.

And it is a question that extends far beyond Cornell.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, RAINN's national hotline is 1-800-656-4673.