The 'Cornell 7' haven't been charged. The mob doesn't care | Opinion - USA Today

The allegations of a gang rape at a Cornell University frat house in 2024 that are dominating headlines have transported me right back to the preceding decade, where cases of regret too often turned into accusations of rape. 

These were the years of the Obama administration, during which colleges and universities were pushed to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct in ways that favored the accusers. The accused – almost always young men – were essentially stripped of their constitutional due process rights, and the accuser’s word was all that mattered. Many male students were kicked off campus, with their reputations in ruins while they often lost judicial protections.

This problematic and unfair framework was fixed during President Donald Trump’s first term, and as of Sept. 28, those guidelines have been officially reinstated.

The heated reaction to the Cornell allegations and the rush to judge the young men involved before they’ve had their day in court makes me fear the country has learned nothing about the dangers of simply “believing women.” 

The woman at the center of this latest case, who conveniently gets to be “Jane Doe” while her alleged rapists are all named, caused an uproar when she filed a civil suit on Sept. 16 – nearly two years after the initial incident occurred. Her story has changed “dramatically” since she first told it in October 2024, according to Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who is reopening the case in light of the “new” information. 

At the time, Van Houten reviewed the statement Jane Doe made to campus police and decided that what had happened during that alcohol-and-drug-fueled night was voluntary and consensual and did not run afoul of New York law.    

Fast-forward two years, and Jane Doe has remembered things very differently. In her civil complaint, she alleges she was “sexually assaulted and raped” by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity. Also named in the lawsuit are the university, the fraternity, her sorority and even a local bar for all neglecting to protect her from the assault that allegedly followed. 

Jane Doe, who was 20 at the time, apparently takes zero responsibility for her actions. The lawsuit lays out that – on her own accord – she consumed “10 standard drinks” within three hours before she “stumbled” to the frat house – also her own decision.

What’s most troubling in the Cornell allegations is that onlookers have already made up their minds about who is to blame.

From politicians to celebrities to TV and social media personalities, the accused (who’ve never been charged with a crime) may as well have been convicted. 

In a statement, and in an interview with NPR, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, called the allegations in the rape case “serious and horrific.”

“I am glad the district attorney is reopening this case,” Gillibrand said. “Regardless of what this grand jury concludes, the larger truth is clear: a system that forces survivors to these lengths is a system that is fundamentally broken.”

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also a Democrat, referred to a “culture of rape” on elite campuses like Cornell.  

Actress Florence Pugh posted on Instagram that she felt “uneasy and sick and anxious” about the allegations.

“I know this has happened before, and I hate the idea of it happening again,” Pugh wrote.

Actor Josh Gad also took to Instagram, saying he thought the “Cornell boys lost the right to a future when they stole a future from a helpless young woman,” calling the allegations a “violent and sick criminal act.”

“The pictures of these young men who have not been charged, not been adjudicated, are being plastered all over the internet. I think people are reporting this story inaccurately. I think they are reporting it unfairly. And while this is something that we have to take very seriously, there is no way, according to her statement in 2024, that any prosecutor would have brought this court case.” 

For this, Hostin has been derided for her “disgusting” comments and not showing enough “empathy” for Jane Doe. 

I remember instances in the not-so-distant past when other accusations of gang rape turned out to be made up and false. 

This happened in 2006 in the infamous Duke lacrosse team rape allegations and in 2014 when a salacious account in Rolling Stone (later retracted) detailed reports of a gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house. Both stories garnered reactions similar to the Cornell case, with knee-jerk support of the alleged victims. 

Not all women tell the truth, and not all men are rapists. 

At Cornell, however, a shocking 1 in 3 undergraduate women reported in 2025 that they experienced unwanted sexual contact or penetration since enrolling. 

It defies belief that there are so many sexual predators who attend the Ivy League school. But it does point to underlying issues between the sexes. 

A new report from the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life showed a startling 66% of young Democratic women blame men for the challenges facing women in American society. A majority of young women identify as Democrats. 

Regardless of the outcome in the Cornell civil lawsuit and the reopened criminal investigation, young women must take responsibility for their actions. Everyone at that Cornell party – including the alleged victim – made mistakes, from drinking too much to taking drugs to partaking in unwise sex. Why should the men involved be held to a higher standard? 

Women shouldn’t expect coddling. And regretting one’s bad decisions is a far cry from rape. 

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques