FIRST WEEKEND OF CORNELL FRAT BAN

Cornell's first weekend under the party ban was Homecoming weekend. Nobody in the administration appears to have looked at a calendar before picking the start date. Students had already spent the fall protesting on campus, some calling for President Michael Kotlikoff to resign and some chanting "Ban the frats." They got the second one, timed to the weekend the alumni drove in. Kotlikoff announced it October 13 in a letter to the campus: no parties or social events in Interfraternity Council houses for the rest of the 2026-2027 academic year, "zero tolerance for violations," and an immediate emergency suspension for any fraternity that holds one anyway. Roughly a third of Cornell students are in Greek life, so that is most of the weekend. It follows a civil lawsuit filed in September by a former student identified as Jane Doe, who says she was pressured into drugs and alcohol and sexually assaulted by seven Chi Phi members on October 19, 2024. All seven deny wrongdoing. Here is what the school managed before the hammer came out. A Title IX panel expelled two defendants, suspended two and put them on probation, issued one a persona non grata order, and gave two others no-contact orders, "educational modules" and "reflection papers." The persona non grata man, who had already graduated, was barred from campus for three years. Cornell says it followed its policies and Title IX. The Tompkins County DA declined to charge anyone, citing a lack of evidence. Prosecutors have now reopened the criminal investigation, and at least two of the accused are trying to get Attorney General Letitia James off the case because she posted support for the accuser before her office was named special prosecutor. Chi Phi is still barred from campus, and the faculty senate has given notice of a rare no-confidence resolution.

Why you should give a shit: Cornell emptied every fraternity house in a single afternoon two years after the night that forced it, which means the speed was always available, and now a former acting attorney general and a sitting one get to decide what the wait was worth.