A former Cornell student has filed a 101-page lawsuit accusing seven Chi Phi fraternity members of drugging and gang-raping her in October 2024.
The anonymous plaintiff, now 20, alleges the assault began after a night of bar-hopping with her sorority sisters ended at a Tudor-style frathouse mansion near the Ithaca, New York campus. She had arrived at Cornell approximately two years earlier, leaving her family to fly across the country for what she describes in court papers as a “glorified – yet materially false and misleading façade of Cornell University Greek life.”
According to the Manhattan Supreme Court filing, one defendant pressured her to snort ketamine for the first time in her life after she declined his offer of a threesome with two other fraternity members. She also ingested marijuana and high-proof rum, the documents claim.
The defendants then “began engaging in sexual acts with Plaintiff, all without her consent,” including both oral and vaginal intercourse, the filing states. When one frat brother left, another entered to take his place.
At 1:42 a.m., one of the male students messaged “Free p—y” in a Snapchat group titled “Chi Phi Actives,” according to a screenshot included in the court filing.
“This is crazy work,” one defendant responded.
“Like you can walk in and whip it out,” another person allegedly added.
The messages allegedly invited multiple students to join the assault in the fraternity bedroom. After the texts went out, frat members began pouring lines of ketamine all over the woman’s body and snorting them, court documents say. One of them poured a line of the powder “onto his erect penis and commanded that Plaintiff snort it, which she did,” the suit alleges.
The assault continued until 5:45 that morning, according to the lawsuit.
The attack was reported to both campus and Ithaca police about a week later. The fraternity and seven accused students were placed on temporary suspensions. “The behavior that has been outlined in the many allegations received is abhorrent and cannot be tolerated within our community,” the university said in a statement at the time.
A criminal investigation into the accusations did not result in charges being brought against the seven men, the Tompkins County District Attorney’s office said, declining further comment.
The lawsuit claims Cornell “created an environment where sexual assault and rape of persons such as Plaintiff would be tolerated” and failed to “discipline or remove” the students. The elite school later offered the accused fraternity members the chance to “mitigate their conduct by submitting essays,” according to the filing.
The plaintiff no longer attends the university. Many of the accused students have since deleted their LinkedIn pages, though some appear to have continued their studies at Cornell. The frat house appears still shuttered.
Cornell has long struggled with sexual assault within its Greek life system. Even after passing reforms in 2021, the university temporarily banned all fraternity parties a year later when four young women reported being drugged and raped inside frat houses. The school declined to comment on the lawsuit or whether the accused men submitted any essays about the alleged attack and if they faced any other disciplinary actions.
The victim’s lawyer was not available for comment because of other work, his office said.