Cornell fraternity rape allegation renews scrutiny of Greek life

Universities weigh student safety against alumni giving

The alleged assault at Cornell has surfaced a long-running collision at US universities between protecting students and protecting the financial relationships that Greek life sustains. Daniel R Schwarz, an 85-year-old emeritus professor of English who has taught at Cornell for 59 years, said most of his students have not joined fraternities and that the case has persuaded him Greek life should be abolished. “The Greek system, in my judgment, supports alcoholism, sexual harassment, bullying under the guise of hazing, groupthink and, of course, the objectification of women,” Schwarz said.

The 2024 allegations against seven Chi Phi members mark the second time in recent years that Cornell has disciplined fraternities over drugging and assault. In 2022 the university suspended fraternity parties and social events after reports that over the course of a single weekend, one student was sexually assaulted and at least four others were drugged at residences affiliated with Greek organizations. Hillary Brewer, chief communications officer of the North American Interfraternity Conference, a trade association, said in an email that “the men involved in the incident at Cornell were immediately expelled from the fraternity and the chapter was disbanded.” Asked whether the alleged assault indicated a broader pattern, Brewer stated that “any fraternity man who commits or is complicit in sexual assault should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. We will continue to call for necessary personal accountability when members neglect their fraternal obligations.” Brewer did not respond to a question about whether sexual misconduct is pervasive at fraternities, but said the organizations “are an accelerator for success in college and beyond. They create lifelong connections to the campus, community and friends.”

Cornell’s internal discipline fell short of expulsion for most of the accused. A Cornell fraternity member who was not among those accused, and who asked not to be named for fear of being doxed, told The Guardian the administration’s response to the alleged assault was “incredibly frustrating.” He said two students were expelled, a third who had graduated was barred from campus, and four others received lighter punishments — including two suspensions — while remaining enrolled. “Fraternities who ‘have too many people at an event, at a party, they get a far greater punishment than what seems to have happened to’ the Chi Phi members,” he said. He does not think the school should force fraternities to close: “When you get rid of Greek life, you get rid of some of the most passionate people that cared about the school, right? And so why would someone like that donate to the school if the school is eliminating something that was a key part of their time at Cornell?”

The social-fraternity system itself is more than two centuries old. In 1825 at Union College in Schenectady, New York, five seniors feeling “an aching void” after the dissolution of a military company at the school formed a secret society for “literary and social purposes,” according to the book The Company He Keeps: A History of White College Fraternities. It became Kappa Alpha Society, the country’s first social fraternity. Such groups opened at colleges across the country, and joining them became a rite of passage for some students. Comedy film classics like Animal House and Old School celebrated the shenanigans that occur at frat parties. Fraternities and sororities were also created at historically Black colleges, where they are often a vital part of campus life, providing crucial social support and post-college networks. But there has also always been a darker side to the organizations. The first hazing incidents were reported in the 1870s, and the first death at a fraternity house occurred in 1873 during an initiation at Cornell, according to a report, Fraternities in North America, in the Ebsco database. From 1838 to 2025, there has been an average of two hazing deaths reported annually, according to Hazinginfo.org, which tracks such incidents.

Students continue to join despite those patterns, and social motivation appears central to the draw. “Despite concerns over toxic behavior at fraternities and sororities, students still join because they want community and friends,” said Jennifer Freyd, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Oregon, who has studied sexual assault on college campuses. A Cornell fraternity member who was not among those accused told The Guardian that he had joined because he had a large friend group in high school but had not found the same connections on campus. “When I met the people in my fraternity, I felt that these were people that I felt would not only just be my friend, but be a support system,” including by giving career advice and connecting him with alumni, said the student. Students also join because family or friends encourage them and convey that the organizations “bring them power and status,” Freyd said. “But to achieve that, some students often must engage in hazing rituals,” The Guardian noted.

Survey data has long pointed to fraternities as elevated-risk settings. In a 2019 survey by the Association of American Universities, a quarter of undergraduate women reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual conduct, and the setting where it was most likely to occur was a fraternity. During initiation rites, students “engage in humiliation, and there is a tradition in fraternities of objectifying women’s bodies and in sororities of complying with fraternities,” Freyd said. She used to believe Greek life could be reformed but no longer does, she said, because leaders must “overcome the generations of tradition that are misogynist and bonding over humiliation. That is enormous work.” She believes colleges should abolish it.

Lucy Taylor, a University of Maryland graduate who created the podcast “Snapped” about the history of Greek life, said she joined Alpha Phi as a freshman and was at first “feeling validated and excited about all my new friends.” But after she posted a photo on social media of herself in a bikini, a fellow member commented, “SNAP,” which stood for “So Not Alpha Phi,” Taylor explained. A student then sent an email urging members to “keep the booties tucked away” and to use “SNAP if you think you see something that might not be the best image for our chapter.” Even after taking it down, Taylor felt ostracized from other members. While she was shamed for the photo, she also felt as though she were living in a “rape culture.” She said members were told not to leave a fraternity before midnight because “we don’t want to seem rude.” “It was just normal if someone didn’t remember hooking up with someone from the night before. Blacking out was totally normal,” Taylor said. She alleges she was raped by a fraternity member and left the sorority after seven months. New York magazine recently reported on what it called the “Ozempidemic” at colleges — students taking GLP-1 drugs to become thin enough to be recruited by a desired chapter. “The drug is new but the pressure isn’t. Sororities have always ranked women by how they look,” Taylor said.

Cornell’s discipline arrived against a backdrop of repeated misconduct allegations at US fraternities. This year, an 18-year-old at Northern Arizona University died from alcohol poisoning after he and three other Delta Tau Delta pledges passed around two bottles of vodka to ensure they vomited, the Associated Press reported. The fraternity’s national organization closed the chapter, and a 20-year-old pleaded guilty to felony hazing. Carter Eslick, a former North Arizona University fraternity leader, was sentenced on 30 September in Flagstaff, Arizona. At Southern University in Louisiana in 2025, a 20-year-old student died after allegedly being punched four times in the chest as part of a hazing ritual; the alleged perpetrator was charged with manslaughter and criminal hazing. In August, 14 people were arrested at Penn State for running a cocaine-trafficking ring out of two fraternities in which hazing allegedly played a role. The University of Tennessee issued a safety notice to students in August after three reports of sexual assault, two of which included suspected drugging at fraternities, according to WBIR. In April at the University of Arkansas, a 19-year-old allegedly raped a woman at his fraternity, Kappa Sigma, months after another woman received a temporary order of protection against him, KNWA reported. And in September, police at the University of Wisconsin-Madison arrested two fraternity leaders when partially clothed pledges were found in a frat-house basement covered in food, condiments and other liquids.

The debate over Greek life has also reached municipalities and school administrations. The Ithaca Common Council voted on Wednesday to stop issuing permits to Cornell student groups, including fraternities, WSYR reported. This week the University of Arizona dean initiated an “interim activities suspension” at its fraternities, the New York Times reported. “The alleged behaviors range from physical assault, drugs and alcohol, hazing and creating unsafe environments for our students,” the dean wrote. “Some cases are also under criminal investigation.” Bowdoin College, Middlebury College and Swarthmore College have previously ended Greek life.

Kotlikoff said in remarks reported by the Associated Press that Cornell would take “a serious look at the role of fraternities and sororities in campus life,” though the school is not considering ending Greek life. Schwarz said university leaders have not acted sooner because they fear the consequences for fundraising. Lucy Taylor echoed that assessment: “All the Greek alumni would have pitchforks, and it would be a whole debacle rather than kind of letting this play out in the press and then just going back to business.” Universities face that pressure at a moment when their applicant pool is shrinking: the United States is projected to experience a 13% decline in high school graduates from 2025 to 2041, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Freyd, asked whether Greek life can be reformed, said the work would be hard but consequential. “The colleges and universities that make change in this domain, it’s going to be hard, and it will take courage. But it will really be worth it.”