Oct. 12, 2026 by Kayla Magnus (‘29)
On the night of October 19th, into the morning of October 20th, 2024, Jane Doe, a 20-year-old Sophomore at Cornell University was sexually assaulted and raped for seven hours by seven men: Mathew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris, and Scott Kretschmar, all fellow students of hers. Her story continues into 2026; once brought to light, outraging the public.
Jane Doe was a sister in a Cornell Sorority and resided in the sorority house. According to The New York Times, the night of October 19th began with Jane Doe’s keys and wallet being stolen, leading to her losing the title of designated driver for the night.
According to The Cornell Daily Sun, she began drinking at the house, then drove with her sorority sisters to the bar Moonies, where their event was being held, and where she claims she was served by Moonies employees, though being underaged and being marked as so.
She later became intoxicated and “stumbled alone” for 20 minutes in the dark to meet a guy she liked (Ingalls) at the Chi Phi Fraternity house.
At the house she claimed to be persistently supplied alcohol and drugs, leading to her further intoxication. The New York Times states, “She found the man she was looking for, she said, and they talked, drank and danced. Soon after, she went to a room and had a consensual sexual encounter with the man, and another man she knew from the fraternity, both of whom she thought were her friends, she said.”
A message was sent from one member (Newell) to a Snapchat group chat including 57 of the frat members which implied that Jane Doe’s body, without her consent, was available for any of the men to have. Seven of them took the offer.
This case may be called “The Cornell 7,” but it’s really the Cornell 57. Not one of the 57 members even tried to stop it or save Jane Doe from going through this horrific and traumatic assault of which she was too weakened to escape on her own. Other messages followed such as one asking, “Shop still open?” There were 57 people in the group chat titled “Chi Phi Activities,” seven committed legal crimes, all 57 committed moral ones.
The fact that a man thought it was his place to say that they could have her, I believe to be utterly horrific and absolutely disgusting. She is a woman, not an object, not something to just hand out to whoever these men wanted.
As the night progressed, more men entered the room and the assault; Jane Doe began to feel used and at no point consented. She claimed that she felt as though she was in no state to consent anyway, and that she was extremely intoxicated at this point.
She tried to tell them no, tell them that she was too tired, and she hid naked under the covers and swatted men’s hands away from her body. She didn’t consent. She tried to stop them. They didn’t stop. They assaulted her for hours. They snorted ketamine off her body and made her do the same. She claims that she felt there was no way to escape, that it was coercion, that she was hit extremely hard on her butt and later found bruises there, that she tried to pry multiple sets of groping hands off of her, and that sex was initiated with her without her consent. According to CBS News, she states that she’ll never know how many people violated her, and that by the end of the night she was so incapacitated that she doesn’t remember much of when it happened.
Jane Doe went through a grotesque, traumatic experience where she was in no state to consent, nor a state to be able to get herself out of the situation. She told The Cornell Daily Sun that now, “almost two years later, I still carry the weight of its impact, every day and night.”
The next morning, she awoke and was driven back to her sorority house. She recounted the night to her friends, not saying anything about rape because she didn’t think of it like that initially. She may not have said it was rape, but as stated by The New York Times, her friends recalled that at no point in telling her story did she say that she said yes.
She began to feel extremely ashamed because the news spread quickly around campus; people were calling her a whore, and sadly she thought she was too. She was criticized and bashed around campus. As she sat with her memories of the night and talked about it more, she began to realize how much she hated what had happened, now and in the moment. She realized that it was nonconsensual, that she didn’t enjoy it, was brutally hurt, and eventually it fully registered to her that she had been sexually assaulted and raped.
Over the weeks following the assault she exchanged multiple texts with her attackers, becoming increasingly aware of what actually happened and growing angrier with them for not putting a stop to the heinous act. On November 3rd, she had finally realized it was assault. On November 7th she requested a rape kit. Now, as stated by CBS News, she says, “I can say with 100% certainty that I was raped.”
Three weeks after the assault she had processed the night enough to know that what had happened to her never should have occurred. She filed a complaint to the university that led to hearings of the university’s Title IX committee. She was interviewed by a school police officer who then condensed her statement into a six-page document. When Doe read over the statement before signing the final version, she had to hand write in corrections; the officer had omitted the majority of harsh, significant details she included such as her statement claiming she was raped. This was brought to the District Attorney’s office, where DA Mattew Van Houten refused to bring the case to court because of a “lack of evidence.”
The university took matters into their own hands and doled out what they deemed worthy “punishments.” The Chi Phi fraternity was barred, only two of Doe’s attackers were expelled, the rest were “afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays.” All denied the allegations, none of the seven men faced criminal charges, and a proper investigation was not conducted nor the case brought to court.
Cornell is an Ivy League school, where cheating on exams is taken more seriously than rape allegations. Doe attempted to drop out of the university to go home, process, and heal. According to ABC News, the school refused to give her a refund on her tuition, and forced her to finish out the semester, regularly crossing paths with the men that changed her life forever. She dropped out months later due to the assault.
On September 16th, 2026, nearly two years after the attack, Jane Doe decided to file a lawsuit against multiple parties, including the seven men, the university, the fraternity, and more. As stated by CBS News, Van Houten claims that the information he received in 2024 was not as severe as the information he is receiving now, that he never laid actual eyes on her statement, and that much information was not given to him. According to BBC News, the school continues to deny the charges and claim their punishments were adequate. The president of Cornell has agreed to allow a private investigation to commence. The case where Doe is represented by Thomas P. Guiffra will be brought before a grand jury.
The case has gained extreme attention on social media, and people, including myself, are furious. With the attention it has accumulated and the outrage the media is presenting on her behalf, we can only hope to bring her justice.
Although the case hasn’t come to a conclusion just yet and this is all still alleged, I believe you Jane Doe. The public is on your side and fighting with you in every way we can. What happened to Jane Doe is absolutely unforgivable, heinous, disgusting, horrific, outrageous, and infuriating. The hate for the circumstance she was put in is extreme and the hope that she will get justice is immense. The whole circumstance, and the way that it was handled by the school, is nauseating.
I’m so sorry that this happened to you, Jane Doe. I’m sorry to all the people who have been sexually assaulted. It’s not your fault. You are loved. You are wanted. You will be seen. We have to make this stop.
Sexual assault and rape are more common than any of us would like to believe. Around 1 in 5 women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence. It’s a horrific fact but it’s true. The only way to prevent it is to spread awareness. A saying that has gained a lot of support on social media is, “Educate your sons.” Of course, yes, protect your daughters too, we as women may never be completely safe, and there’s a certain level of fear we will have to keep instilled in us forever, but are we really more willing to teach the women of our world to always be aware, alert, and know how to defend ourselves, rather than teaching a man to simply respect another human being, and to never make a nasty comment about, let alone lay their hands on, a woman without consent? Its common practice for women to constantly be checking behind them when on a walk. Rarely do women ever walk with headphones on, and most women carry some sort of self-defense asset with them at all times.
There’s a constant weight we carry on our shoulders, a pit in our stomachs telling us something could go horribly wrong at any given moment, and it’s not fair. We deserve to feel safe, to be able to walk around alone at night, but at the rate we’re going, we will never feel secure, let alone actually be secure. As proven through recent events and the Cornell 7 case, men believe that they can do whatever they want to us and we have to shoulder the consequences. Here’s one lesson to teach them; “no” means no. But so does: “maybe, I’m too tired, I don’t know, it’s kind of late, not tonight, wait”, a shake of a head no, a pull away, a push away, silence, hesitation, unconsciousness, intoxication, an attempt to leave, and so much more.
Highschoolers and adolescents just like us, are just as susceptible to this horror if not more. So, if you see something, you really have to say something. The goal is always to make us feel as safe as possible at school, but that isn’t always the case. If you yourself ever feel uncomfortable and or unsafe at school, or see someone in an unsafe situation, know that there are ways to get help.
By the age of 18, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have been victim of sexual violence.
1 in 6 children have been sexually assaulted.
91% percent of victims are female, 9% are male.
99% of perpetrators are male.
81% of women report some type of sexual harassment or assault in their lives.
2% of rapists are convicted.
There were 71,227 recorded rapes in the year 2024.
2.7% resulted in criminal charges
As of March 2025, 6.3 million women have reported being raped or sexually assaulted.
This needs to stop now.
Highschoolers and adolescents just like us, are just as susceptible to this horror if not more. So, if you see something, you really have to say something. The school is always trying to make us feel as safe as possible, but that isn’t always the case. If you ever feel uncomfortable and or unsafe at school, or see someone in an unsafe situation, know that there are ways to get help. Our school uses the Safe School helpline; Security Voice – Safe School Helpline, and there are also trusted adults within the walls that will help. As unfortunate as it is that this article even needs to be written, it does, and action needs to be taken. We can make our school safer. We are stronger together, so be there for and support one another the best you can.
If you or someone you know has experienced a form of sexual violence, there are people who can help at National Sexual Assault Hotline – RAINN.