Opinion: The Cornell 7 Case Proves Yet Again That Men Need to Do Better

Years ago, I had a conversation with a casual acquaintance—let’s call him Z—about his involvement with a Greek-letter organization back when he was in college. The news of the day was of a pledge who had died while undergoing the traditional initiation rites for the same fraternity that Z was a part of. I had expressed deep concern and alarm that such a thing persists, sharing that I had a classmate who was killed during a gang war between rival fraternities during my time in university.

I thought Z shared my views until he said something that shocked me to my core. “That was a choice he made,” he said, referring to the pledge who was killed. “Nobody forced him to join the frat.” The implication was that his frat brothers carried no responsibility because the pledge knew exactly what he was getting into.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “But…he died,” I remember saying. “Those guys he wanted to call brothers killed him. Even if they didn’t mean to, the guy still ended up dead. How can you not care?”

I remember Z shrugging his shoulders. “Ginusto nya yun e. (He wanted it),” he said, reiterating his point. “You wouldn’t understand because you’re not a part of a frat.”

This exchange happened nearly 20 years ago now, but it stuck with me all these years. It was one of the first things I thought about when I heard about the accusations against the Cornell 7.

In case your social media algorithm is feeding you a different type of content, here’s what you need to know: a student at Cornell University, an Ivy League school in upstate New York, accused seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity of drugging and gang-raping her in October 2024. According to reports, Cornell launched an internal investigation that resulted in the expulsion of two of the students and suspension of two others. The university found that two students were not responsible for what happened, and one had already graduated.

No criminal case was filed at the time, but the victim filed a civil complaint in late September 2026, reigniting interest in the case and leading to officials reopening a criminal inquiry and reviewing how Cornell initially handled the case.

At this point, so much has already been said online about it, but I personally couldn’t let this go without weighing in. Despite the incident happening in an Ivy League school halfway across the world, its implications are universally relevant.

It’s yet another example of how men have failed women.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: it doesn’t matter that she admitted to being intoxicated when she arrived at the Chi Phi house. It doesn’t matter what she was wearing, how she supposedly imbibed more alcohol and drugs at the frat house, and that she initially consented to sex with one or more of the alleged perpetrators.

None of that matters. The fact that she was in no state to care for herself gives no individual license to do whatever they want with her. Reports say she had been assaulted for hours by multiple men in the frat house. There are screenshots of disturbing messages the frat bros sent to each other about her in a group chat: “Free pussy upstairs,” and “You can just whip it out.” Nobody in that frat recognized the gravity of the situation, at least, not enough to check up on her or even just send a counter message to help the intoxicated woman and shut the whole thing down.

Well, there was one guy, apparently, who was asleep during this whole incident and who saw the messages when he woke up, felt so appalled and disgusted that he sent them to the woman so she could decide what to do. His messages are now included in the complaint and are being used to build the case against the Cornell 7.

But for many people, it’s not just the Cornell 7 but the Cornell 57, or every single member of that frat who chose to clam up and not say anything about the heinous events of that evening in the name of bonding and brotherhood. One person who did speak up cannot and does not make up for the disturbing silence of every other man who chose to be indifferent, or worse, to be complicit in the act.

Z’s words came back to me. “You wouldn’t understand because you’re not in a frat.”

Is this what fraternities are about? Protecting each other while denigrating women? Covering up for each other when things head south? High-fiving each other at the expense of a helpless woman whose only mistake was thinking she’d be safe in the company of men? If it is, then Z is absolutely right: I don’t understand. How have we as a society sunk so low that a supposed brotherhood of men turns into not just an excuse but acts as a shield when its members commit reprehensible acts?

Women all over the world are responding to this case because it stirs up something deep and primal within them: the experience of feeing unsafe when they go out; being catcalled, harassed and ridiculed, then verbally and physically assaulted. It might not have happened exactly as it did with the Cornell victim, but women know all too well what she went through. They’ve lived with the trauma and humiliation of being disrespected and then being forced to relive it when they muster up the audacity to fight back against their attackers. According to a study by the US National Sexual Violence Resource Center among college women, nine out of 10 victims of sexual assault knew the person who sexually assaulted them. That parallels another study by the Violence Policy Center, which said that, of the more than 2,400 females killed by males in 2023, 89.9 percent knew their killer. That’s roughly nine out of ten women.

Yes, it happens to men, too, but we will never know the pain and anguish women go through living life in constant fear for their safety and their lives. This is what makes the Cornell 7 case so sickening and heartbreaking: in a real-life test of character, when men had the chance to prove that we can be allies who will protect and ensure the safety and well-being of women, we failed miserably. And it was all in the name of so-called camaraderie and brotherhood.

We as men need to do better. Society demands it. Better yet, our own moral standing as human beings demands it. We need to do more to challenge a culture that makes rape and sexual assault permissible, and that allows perpetrators to escape accountability. It’s bad enough that we still live in a largely patriarchal society, where women generally don’t get the same opportunities available to men to improve their lives, but to subject women to truly despicable acts and sweep it all under the rug of fellowship and, yes, fraternity is not only unacceptable but downright shameful.

It's not enough that we say we’re one of the good guys because we don’t harass, catcall, or rape women. That’s the absolute lowest of bars we can hurdle. We need to be there and show up and do something when we witness inequality, injustice, and violence being perpetrated against women. It’s not enough that we stand by and do nothing while other men continue these attacks. It’s our responsibility to provide a safe and nurturing space for everyone, but for women in particular.

I’ll say it again: we need to do better.