By now, much of the general public has heard about the “Cornell 7” case, where a Cornell student, identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit against her university in September alleging that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by seven students in the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024. The lawsuit says the university failed to protect her and adequately discipline those accused. The defendants’ alleged actions and the university’s response are now the subject of a public legal and online battle.
The lawsuit has quickly gained national attention. The district attorney initially declined to file criminal charges, but the investigation has since been reopened amid questions about what information was considered in that decision. The Cornell Daily Sun, a student-run newspaper, published the names of the seven accused men and reported on what it described as a broader pattern in Cornell’s handling of sexual assault allegations. Around the time of the article, a screenshot of the Chi Phi fraternity’s Snapchat group chat, containing messages that appeared to invite other members to join the sexual activity, went viral. Together, these developments prompted hundreds of thousands of people to turn to social media to learn about the case and share their opinions.
As more details emerged – including phone calls and text messages between Jane Doe and the defendants, the alleged use of ketamine, and Jane Doe’s initial consent to a threesome – public opinion began to shift. What had initially prompted widespread outrage became an avenue to scrutinize Jane Doe’s credibility, with some commentators resorting to victim-blaming and rape denial.
The victim-blaming argument claims that a young woman who drinks ten shots and takes ketamine should not expect to be safe. Yet the same scrutiny is rarely directed at the men who use substances, including the men alleged to have introduced ketamine into the situation. Why are women expected to anticipate and prevent the consequences of reckless behavior while men are allowed to engage in the same behavior with less scrutiny? Reckless behavior from men is just reckless; reckless behavior from women is life-threatening.
One argument I’ve encountered is that Jane Doe initially consented to the sexual activity and later claimed it was rape because she felt ashamed and wanted to save face. This explanation raises an obvious question: If her goal was simply to restore her reputation and put the incident behind her, why pursue a public lawsuit nearly two years later? Filing a suit has brought the case national attention and exposed her to further scrutiny. People have attempted to identify and dox her, and her family has received threats. If it was truly consensual and she just wanted to clear her image, she could simply claim that it wasn’t her and let the rumors blow over.
Prominent media figures have participated in these attacks. Megyn Kelly, a former Fox News anchor, commented that Doe was not attractive and was “extremely beefy in her arms and her legs.” Kelly’s comments are remarkable for their tastelessness. Doe’s appearance has no bearing on whether she was assaulted, and evaluating her body as though it could somehow establish what happened that night reveals how easily discussion of sexual violence can devolve into personal attacks.
What’s interesting about sexual assault cases is the differences in how men and women react. Many women take the mockery, rape denial and victim-blaming personally. They recognize that the way society treats one woman who reports sexual assault can shape how other women expect to be treated if they find themselves in a similar position. Some men, meanwhile, seem more inclined toward skepticism, perhaps because accepting the possibility of sexual assault in a particular case threatens their image of men as a group. For others, the implications may be even more personal. If certain behavior is recognized as sexual assault, they may have to reconsider things they themselves have done.
Social media has become a forum for debating Jane Doe’s credibility and the punishment the defendants deserve. I believe the way we debate this case should be approached differently. We can debate the appropriate consequences for the defendants if the allegations are substantiated, what this case reveals about Greek life on college campuses and how universities should reform their handling of sexual assault complaints. But is it right to speculate about Jane Doe’s motives or accuse her of fabricating details without knowing what happened that night?
I hope that Jane Doe receives justice and that anyone found to have committed a crime faces the appropriate consequences. I cannot claim to know what happened that night, and I will not pretend to reach a verdict from the information available to me. What I can examine is the public’s reaction. Social media has become a microcosm of society’s treatment of women: the extreme misogynists denying or justifying the rape, the people using #IAmJaneDoe to share their own experiences of sexual assault, the people uncertain about the allegations and those drawn to the case for its sensationalism. These reactions reveal a great deal about the assumptions people bring to discussions of sexual violence, and the way they think of feminist issues on a broader scale.
