- Rumors spread widely in September 2026 about the details of a lawsuit that alleged seven male students at Cornell University drugged and raped a 20-year-old female student in 2024.
- In particular, social media users shared a claim that some of the accused students were allowed to write essays in lieu of punishment.
- Cornell said the essay claim was false, but Snopes was unable to independently verify that, nor what specific punitive measures were or were not given to the male students.
- Snopes readers also sought information about why no one had faced criminal charges. After the lawsuit was filed, the Tompkins County district attorney issued a statement saying that he was reopening the investigation and explaining what had led his office to close it in the first place.
- Snopes has reached out to multiple parties involved in the case and will update this report if we learn more.
Rumors swirled online in September 2026 that a lawsuit brought against an Ivy League university and seven of its male students alleged the seven drugged and raped a 20-year-old female student in October 2024.
The story spread rapidly on social media along with the claim that the college in question, Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York, gave some of the accused students an opportunity to write essays in order to mitigate their punishment.
The popularity of these rumors led to an influx of email in the Snopes inbox, seeking clarity on the sequence of events, whether the claim the male students were allowed to write essays in lieu of punishment was true and why no one was charged with a crime.
Cornell University said the essay claim was false, but Snopes was unable to independently verify that, nor what specific punitive measures were or were not doled out. Here’s a breakdown of what we know:
The ‘Jane Doe’ lawsuit
According to the lawsuit (embedded below) filed Sept. 14, 2026, on behalf of the plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe, the drugging and multiple assaults occurred in the early hours of Oct. 20, 2024, at the Delta Xi chapter of the Chi Phi fraternity. Full details of the alleged assault are available within the 101-page document.
In addition to its complaints of sexual assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotion distress, the lawsuit contained accusations of breach of contract, violations of New York state human rights laws and negligence by multiple parties.
The lawsuit named seven male students as defendants: Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar.
It also named Cornell University; unspecified Cornell faculty members, board members and alumni; the national Delta Xi fraternity, its Chi Phi chapter and the chapter president; the national sorority that Jane Doe belonged to, Delta Delta Delta, and its Alpha Beta chapter; and an Ithaca bar that allegedly served the plaintiff alcohol despite the fact, according to the lawsuit, that she appeared visibly intoxicated and was under the legal drinking age.
As restitution, the plaintiff sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
The lawsuit also included an alleged photo of a Snapchat exchange between the fraternity members involved (Page 27 of the PDF below) that appeared to occur as the alleged assault was taking place at 1:42 a.m. Oct. 20, 2024, “claiming there was ‘free p****’ upstairs.” Five of the seven male students named in the lawsuit appeared in the screenshot.
Editor’s note: The following document contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find upsetting.
Timeline of events
The lawsuit said Jane Doe reported the incident “on or about” Nov. 8, 2024, to the Cornell University Police Department, the school’s private police force.
The same day, the school’s student-run independent newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, reported that “an individual reported being sexually assaulted by several males and coerced into consuming ketamine and other drugs,” which resulted in the temporary suspension of the two frat houses located on the block in question, Chi Phi and Lambda Chi Alpha.
The student newspaper didn’t receive confirmation of which frat house was ultimately being investigated at the time of publication, but did report receiving no response from Chi Phi, while the president of Lambda Chi Alpha said, “We don’t have any knowledge of the situation.”
Cornell posted a statement on Nov. 26, 2024, confirming that Chi Phi’s Delta Xi chapter was under a temporary suspension issued Nov. 8, 2024, for “alleged violations of the Student Code of Conduct.”
The statement continued, “In addition, late last week, interim measures in the form of temporary suspensions were issued for a number of students to protect the immediate physical health and safety of all students.”
The lawsuit alleged that in addition to the temporary suspensions, the male students were “afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays,” which appeared to be the first mention of the purported essays speculated about in online rumors.
The university issued a statement in February 2025 announcing it was creating a “Presidential Task Force for Campus Sexual Assault,” a panel that would be “charged with developing and recommending a holistic framework for addressing and preventing sexual assaults on campus.”
The lawsuit said Cornell’s Title IX office “conducted numerous (at least twelve) hearings” regarding Jane Doe’s allegations during May 2025 before ending the investigation.
On Nov. 4, 2025, Cornell released a statement on its biannual survey of sexual assault and related misconduct and admitted the survey showed “increased prevalence of sexual misconduct” and “harassment and stalking trends” on campus.
In a report dated March 10, 2026, the task force gave its recommendations for updating the school’s guidance on preventing sexual assaults on campus, but it was unknown how much, if any, has been implemented as official policy.
The task force said it “reviewed existing data, policies, and programs; identified peers with best practices; and gathered information and insights from members of the Cornell community. Based on this process, we developed a series of recommendations.”
Cornell publicly posted the recommendations on its website on March 17, 2026.
On Sept. 18, 2026, The Cornell Daily Sun reported on the lawsuit filed by Jane Doe, after which the story gained traction with major media outlets such as CBS News, The Independent and People.
The extended news coverage of the case fed online rumors, which included graphic depictions of the alleged abuse, the identities of the alleged perpetrators and the claim about essays written to mitigate punitive measures.
On Sept. 28, 2026, Tompkins County’s district attorney, Matthew Van Houten, posted a statement announcing he would reopen the criminal case and offering a lengthy explanation as to why no charges were filed in 2024. In sum, Van Houten asserted that the details of the statement given by Jane Doe to the college’s police in November 2024 did not indicate criminal activity.
Van Houton wrote:
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. My office obviously did not and could not have based our November 2024 decision on the allegations in a civil lawsuit that would not be filed until nearly two years later. Furthermore, I have never been contacted by Jane Doe’s attorneys. Not to inform me the original statement was inaccurate and not to ask me to reconsider our decision. Rather, I reached out to Jane Doe’s attorneys after the lawsuit was filed to understand the discrepancy between the original statement and the lawsuit’s allegations and the proper path forward in light of the lawsuit’s allegations.
At the time, Van Houton said, his office “confirmed with CUPD that criminal charges were not appropriate based on Jane Doe’s statement.”
However, he wrote that he decided to revisit the case after considering the details in the lawsuit and the subsequent urging of the community. “I have already begun that process, starting with our conversation with Jane Doe and her attorneys. Once we determine the appropriate charges, the case will be prosecuted in the most objective and impartial means available – by testimony to the Tompkins County Grand Jury.”
Van Houton further stated that should the grand jury “indict any or all of the individuals involved, this office will prosecute the charges zealously and to the fullest extent of the law.”
Cornell responded to Van Houton the same day with a statement saying the university supported the reopening of the case, but claimed that “any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false.” Cornell said the fraternity in question remained closed after its temporary closure in 2024 and was barred from the campus.
The university’s statement went on:
Cornell also conducted a thorough Title IX investigation, which is separate from a criminal proceeding, over the course of several months. During that investigation, temporary suspensions and other restrictive measures were used. After investigation, and pursuant to federal law, the matter was sent to a hearing where a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days. The complainant and respondents had the opportunity to testify and present evidence. At its conclusion, the hearing panel issued a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell. None of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement.
Snopes reached out to Cornell University, the Ithaca Police Department and Chi Phi fraternity for further details about any ongoing criminal investigation and specific punitive measures taken against the accused. We will update this story if we learn more.
