CORNELL BANS FRAT PARTIES

Cornell president Michael Kotlikoff announced Tuesday that all parties and social events at fraternity houses are banned for the rest of the 2026-27 academic year, effective immediately, with what he called zero tolerance for violations. Here is why. A former student known as Jane Doe sued Cornell, the Chi Phi fraternity and seven of its members last month over an alleged gang rape at the frat house in October 2024. Nobody was ever criminally charged. Cornell ran its own Title IX process instead: a three-member panel, 12 days of hearings in May 2025, and sanctions that ranged from expulsion to writing a reflection paper. Two men were expelled. Two were suspended and put on probation. Two more got no-contact orders, training modules and a reflection paper, which is what middle school gives you for throwing a chair. Now everyone with an actual badge is involved. The governor tapped Attorney General Letitia James to re-examine the case, Cornell hired former deputy AG Sally Yates to review its own policies, and the school will let New York State Police independently investigate campus sexual assault reports. Ithaca's Common Council passed a temporary moratorium on city permits for student group parties through Nov. 5. The faculty senate has teed up a no-confidence resolution. Hundreds protested, some chanting to ban the frats, some asking Kotlikoff to resign. His letter says he is deeply sorry and appalled, two years after the night in question.

Why you should give a shit: It took a lawsuit, hundreds of protesters, the state attorney general and the city yanking party permits to get Cornell to cancel a keg party, which is a decent measure of how much a university will do about sexual assault before the bad press starts.