At one point, the ugly incident on the night of Oct. 19-20, 2024, at the Cornell University Chi Phi fraternity house seemed to be settled.
asserted
incident → seem → house
A 20-year-old female student had accused several fraternity members of raping her in a long night of drinking, drugs, and group sex.
asserted
student → accuse → drinking
Local police in Ithaca, New York, along with the district attorney’s office, investigated and, after interviewing the female student, concluded that her statement, supported by other accounts, “described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”
asserted
statement → investigate → use
No criminal charges were filed.
asserted
charges → file → ?
For its part, Cornell University investigated on its own, conducting extensive interviews with everyone involved.
asserted
University → investigate → everyone
It was not, of course, a criminal investigation, but university officials found the students had violated school policies.
asserted
students → find → policies
The school then meted out some serious punishment.
asserted
school → mete → punishment
Two of the seven students involved were expelled, according to a New York Times account of the disciplinary measures.
uncertain
Two → involve → measures
One other student was suspended for two years, with “several semesters of disciplinary probation upon his return,” the New York Times reported.
asserted
Times → suspend → return
Another student was suspended for three semesters and “two years of probation.”
asserted
student → suspend → probation
One other student had already graduated when the punishment was handed down; he was barred from campus for three years.
asserted
he → graduate → years
The last two students, who were found not to have played a significant role in events, “were ordered not to contact [the woman], to study sexual harassment, social media use, and bystander intervention, and to write ‘reflection papers,'” the New York Times said.
asserted
Times → find → papers
On top of all that, Cornell shut down the Chi Phi fraternity house and banned the organization from campus.
asserted
Cornell → shut → campus
It is gone.
asserted
It → go → ?
So as its final move, the university punished all the members of Chi Phi, whether or not they had anything to do with the events in question.
asserted
they → punish → question
If the alleged victim, whose behavior that night precluded criminal charges against the men, wanted some retribution, or justice, for what took place, she got it: two expulsions, two suspensions, an entire fraternity chapter put out of business, and more.
asserted
she → preclude → business
If she had stopped there, she might conceivably have been able to move on to living her life, with less alcohol and ketamine.
uncertain
she → stop → alcohol
But after two years of silence, on Sept. 16, she filed a massive lawsuit against each of the seven fraternity members; against the local chapter of Chi Phi; against the local chapter’s faculty adviser; against the local chapter’s alumni adviser; against the local chapter’s executive board; against the fraternity’s national organization; against the fraternity’s national nonprofit governing body; against Cornell University; and against a local bar that the woman said served her a single drink on the night she went to the fraternity house.
asserted
she → file → house
The woman also sued her own sorority, Delta Delta Delta, both the local chapter and the national organization.
asserted
woman → sue → sorority
The lawsuit says that before she arrived at the Chi Phi fraternity house that night, she had “consumed about 10 standard drinks within the past 3 hours.”
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she → say → hours
Looking at the lawsuit’s timeline, it appears nearly all of that drinking took place at the Delta Delta Delta sorority house.
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all → look → house
The lawsuit said that Delta Delta Delta “held itself out to the public, and more particularly to [the woman] herein, as possessing the proper degree of safety measure to adequately protect its members and to use reasonable care and diligence in its monitoring and policing of the [local chapter’s] house and those living in and utilizing said house.”
asserted
Delta → say → house
In other words, the woman is suing her sorority for allegedly not putting a stop to her heavy drinking.
uncertain
woman → sue → drinking
Now the lawsuit has made the Cornell incident national news.
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incident → make → ?
The suit includes the names of all seven of the fraternity members involved; their identities had previously been kept confidential since they were not accused of any crimes.
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they → include → crimes
In addition, the lawsuit tells a highly selective version of the story.
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lawsuit → tell → story
Its overarching theme is that the woman was “incapable of consent” in the “gang rape” that took place at the Chi Phi house.
asserted
that → take → house
The lawsuit instantly turned the case into a political cause.
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lawsuit → turn → cause
First, Tompkins County, New York, District Attorney Matthew Van Houten — the man who had originally decided no criminal charges were warranted — announced that he is reopening the case.
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he → decide → case
The accuser has changed her story, Van Houten said, and the “community” asked that the case get another look.
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case → change → look
“Once we determine the appropriate charges,” he continued, “the case will be prosecuted in the most objective and impartial means available — by testimony to the Tompkins County Grand Jury.”
asserted
case → determine → Jury
Van Houten’s wording seemed to send the message that this time there will definitely be criminal charges.
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wording → seem → message
The governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, then named state Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor for the case.
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governor → name → case
James, of course, is legendary for campaigning for office on a platform of pursuing President Donald Trump, and then, once elected, concocting an elaborate but embarrassingly thin fraud lawsuit against Trump.
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James → campaign → Trump
James structured the case so that Trump would not have the right to a jury trial, allowing a compliant judge, Arthur Engoron, to find Trump guilty and sentence him to pay $355 million in penalties.
asserted
Trump → structure → penalties
With interest, that quickly grew to nearly half a billion dollars.
asserted
that → grow → dollars
An appeals court later threw out the penalty as excessive.
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court → throw → penalty
The lesson of the Trump case is that if Letitia James wants to get someone, she will figure out a way to get someone, whether or not it’s a case that will hold up in court.
asserted
that → want → court
The Chi Phi members will need to prepare for that.
asserted
members → need → that
When the accuser’s lawyers released her lawsuit, a number of observers pointed to the evidence that authorities originally gathered in the days and weeks after the 2024 incident.
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authorities → release → incident
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
