The lightest punishment called for writing a paper and completing training. The most severe was expulsion from the college.<\/p>\n
After a woman attending Cornell University accused seven fraternity members of sexually assaulting her in 2024, the university convened a closed proceeding to determine what had occurred and whether those men should face discipline.<\/p>\n
Since then, the sanctions imposed on each of the men, and the reasoning behind those decisions, have remained secret. The college has said little.<\/p>\n
But detailed summaries of the punishments obtained by The New York Times provide the first look at how Cornell administrators apportioned blame for the alcohol- and drug-fuelled gathering that the woman has said left her shattered and degraded.<\/p>\n
Two of the fraternity members were expelled. Another, who had already graduated, was barred from campus. Two more were suspended. The remaining men were handed lighter punishments, the summaries show.<\/p>\n
All of them have denied any wrongdoing, and the district attorney for Tompkins County, New York<\/a>, where Cornell\u2019s Ithaca campus is located, declined to prosecute in 2024. None of the men has been charged with a crime. Their fraternity, Chi Phi, has been banned from campus.<\/p>\n Still, since allegations from the woman who has become known as Jane Doe surfaced in a lawsuit on September 16th, they have touched off intense anger over sexual abuse on campus and why more is not done to punish those responsible. Others have criticised what they see as a rush to judge the seven men involved.<\/p>\n [\u00a0Keith Duggan: Cornell rape allegation scandal brings an early bleakness to upstate New YorkOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n In her lawsuit, Jane Doe claimed that, from the start of her encounter involving the seven fraternity members, she was incapable of consent because she was severely intoxicated. The lawsuit inflamed particular ire by stating the defendants were all \u201cafforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell\u201d, an assertion Cornell has said did not accurately reflect what occurred.<\/p>\n Combined with more than 1,000 pages of interview transcripts, police reports and other records gathered by Cornell investigators, the discipline summaries show the university based its decisions on a broad and complicated body of evidence.<\/p>\n [\u00a0How Cornell University alleged rape victim went from shame to seeking justiceOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n In the end, the punishments handed out by the three-member panel, which met on Zoom over 12 days in May 2025, varied widely. The panel, which enforces federal civil rights at the university prohibiting gender-based discrimination, did not conclude Jane Doe was sexually assaulted by all the men she had accused, according to the discipline summaries.<\/p>\n The university investigative files outline in excruciating detail what the fraternity members were accused of doing on the night of October 19th, 2024.<\/p>\n It was Matthew Ingalls whom Jane Doe originally went to visit at the Chi Phi fraternity house at about 11pm. She walked there alone from a bar to see him, with her intoxication level from drinking through the evening at a level of about a five out of 10, she told investigators.<\/p>\n After she arrived, Ingalls asked her if she wanted to have a threesome with Jonathan Newell, Jane Doe said. During that encounter, she said, the men gave her ketamine and alcohol. Eventually, other men engaged in sex acts with her without her consent and while she was incapacitated, she said.<\/p>\n At the end of the night at the fraternity house, when Jane Doe was near hallucinating, there was more sex, she told investigators.<\/p>\n Expulsions were handed to Ingalls and Newell \u2013 the man who sent a Snapchat message to other fraternity members encouraging them to enter the bedroom where Jane Doe was undressed, the discipline summaries show.<\/p>\n The discipline summaries show that the panel found Ingalls responsible for sexual assault, judging that he was willing to manipulate, exploit and endanger Jane Doe for his own self-interest and the entertainment of others.<\/p>\n A lawyer for Ingalls declined to comment.<\/p>\n Newell was also accused of sexual assault, the university files show. Jane Doe told police on November 14th, 2024, that he had struck her buttocks with enough force during intercourse to leave bruises, and that he had manipulated her to ingest ketamine. He also sent a Snapchat message apparently inviting other fraternity brothers to join in, the files show.<\/p>\n It was not clear whether Newell had hired a lawyer, and he did not respond to multiple requests for comment.<\/p>\n Suspensions and disciplinary probation were given to Winston Lee and Gillio Lopes. Jane Doe had accused Lee of inhaling ketamine off her body and forcing oral sex on her. She alleged that Lopes had sex with her without her consent.<\/p>\n Lee was suspended for two years, with several semesters of disciplinary probation upon his return; Lopes received a three-semester suspension and two years of probation, the discipline summaries show. Both men also were ordered not to contact Jane Doe, and were required to study sexual harassment and to write reflection papers.<\/p>\n Lawyers for Lee and Lopes did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n A persona non grata order was issued to Diego Sarabia, who had graduated by the time of the discipline panel\u2019s ruling. Sarabia, whom Jane Doe accused of forcibly kissing her, was barred from campus for three years.<\/p>\n The remaining two men, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar, were ordered not to contact Jane Doe, to study sexual harassment social media use and bystander intervention, and to write \u201creflection papers\u201d. They were accused of being part of a group of men who entered the room after reading Newell\u2019s Snapchat message.<\/p>\n A recently unsealed lawsuit filed by Kretzschmar against Cornell shows he was not found responsible for sexual assault. Instead, Cornell ruled he had committed a lesser offence of attempted sexual exploitation.<\/p>\n Jeremy Saland, a lawyer for Kretzschmar, said in a statement on Friday that the discipline his client received showed he was \u201cnever accused of, nor found responsible for, rape\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was not even present during any sexual activity,\u201d Saland said.<\/p>\n It was not clear whether Norris was represented by a lawyer, and phone calls and text messages to numbers listed for him and his family members went unanswered.<\/p>\n Jane Doe\u2019s lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, said in a statement on Friday that the punishments \u201cdid not reflect the severity of the charges\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the exception of two of these men, all of them will be able to graduate with a Cornell diploma and live their lives reaping the benefits of this coveted degree,\u201d Giuffra said. \u201cIn contrast, as of today, it is doubtful whether Ms Doe will even graduate college or ever live a normal life due to what these men did to her.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Cornell declined to comment, citing federal laws protecting student privacy.<\/p>\n