The governing body took up the issue after a former student alleged she was sexually assaulted and forced to take drugs at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024.
It does not recommend removals or suggest how to manage the controversy’s fallout. It passed by a vote of 75-50, with five abstentions and five members not voting, according to a copy of the results obtained by NBC News.
I don’t know enough about how university governing works to know if this is the most they can do. Like, yeah, great. Get rid of the fraternities.
But if they get rid of the fraternities, they’d have to find other ways to get cult-like donors and the worlds cheapest sex trafficking cabals
they do have sexual assault problems since 2018, that hasnt been solved. they likely wouldnt have done anything at all of if the 7 rapists dint boast so much about them getting away and the media attention.
“Greek life” organizations don’t need recognition of educational institutions, and institutions elsewhere in the world don’t recognize them.
Without recognition, they become unaffiliated associations (like the moonies) outside the purview of the educational institution. Alleged crimes and misconduct outside the educational institution are matters entirely for authorities unrelated to the institution.
So youre saying the actual cops would have responded to Jane does gang rape instead of the “cops, but like we work for Cornell first and ignore a gang rape victim telling us she was gang raped when we write up the summation doc for the DA” cops? Ithaca cops that would have arrested the rapists, and then told the school, who could have then done their own academic action regardless of the frat or not? Sounds like a win to me.
Frats being under a schools purview doesn’t matter at all, because all of their members are already under the schools authority. The school can sanction or discipline anyone it wants any time already, regardless of the offending action happened in a “official” frat or not.
All that accepting frats does is make them part of the college institution, which gives them legitimatcy and protection from actual consequences, as institutions always defend themselves. Cornell is a perfect example. The Cornell cops, part of the institution that protects Cornell, mislead a vulnerable gang rape victim, to protect the Cornell frats and Cornell’s overall reputation. It worked, and those multiple rapists got away with their rape for years.
Baning frats is the least Cornell can do. Disbanding its incompetent cops is 2nd on my list. Firing its worthless execs is 3rd.
So youre saying the actual cops would have responded to Jane does gang rape instead of the “cops, but like we work for Cornell first and ignore a gang rape victim telling us she was gang raped when we write up the summation doc for the DA” cops? Ithaca cops that would have arrested the rapists, and then told the school, who could have then done their own academic action regardless of the frat or not?
That is by no means certain. Cops employed by government rather than a private or unelected employer (the legality of which is completely bizarre in a liberal democracy) have a horrible record of abuse despite their theoretical accountability to the public. The DA wasn’t employed by the university, and they went only by Jane Doe’s signed statement to conclude her allegations contradicted elements necessary to charge for rape as defined in state law. The statement she said she was very confident about was produced in an interview led by a campus police investigator alongside a Title IX investigator, a victim advocate, and Jane Doe’s adviser. Government police would have produced a similar statement, except the interview would have lacked university employees, especially the Title IX investigator.
Title IX is an anti-discrimination law that protects students’ equal access to educational opportunities regardless of sex. As long as the institution’s programs & activities don’t sexually discriminate or deny equal access, and a claim doesn’t allege the contrary, such claims lack Title IX interests. School conduct code violations unrelated to Title IX lack legal obligations beyond terms of contract.
Private conduct (of mostly adults) outside the school environment that doesn’t affect it lacks Title IX interests, and it would make total sense for schools to focus more narrowly on legal obligations instead of assuming responsibility beyond that of independent individuals and organizations responsible for their own conduct.
Ironically, the school so far has imposed more adverse action on the accused than have our public institutions, which have imposed none. If the DA’s initial determination is correct, the state may end up imposing nothing for an accusation negated by alleged facts.
Though the results in practice may be worse, I still think public police are preferable to non-public, because they lack conflict of interest to an unelected employer, and they could be held accountable to the public with sufficient public will and reform.
