This seems very odd to me too. Why would the HM just go along for the ride??
Unless the HM provided her with the alcohol, I’d be surprised if the suit against the sorority goes anywhere. National sororities have developed a pretty rock-solid limitation of liability/hold harmless model. In addition to yearly mandatory anti-hazing education, most also have mandatory drug & alcohol education.
My eldest’s sorority had “sober sisters” too (or Risk Managers as theirs were called). Thinking back, I’m wondering what the risk and liability is for the girls in those roles (they had to take turns with this duty) and whether the sorority protects them
A picture in this WaPo column shows female Cornell protesters holding a sign that says “burn down the patriarchy.” Though, despite many years of societal promotion of female empowerment, and the opportunity for an Ivy education, some number of those women in sororities are subservient and worshiping of the patriarchy, so the female sentiment is far from unified. [1]
Sabine Paz-Le Draoulec, who graduated from Cornell this year, says messages would often be sent in her sorority group chat, warning one another to be careful before parties — “I was roofied at this house” read one message, she said. (Paz-Le Draoulec suspects she was roofied at a Cornell fraternity party during her first semester. The fraternity was suspended by the time she joined sorority Sigma Delta Tau.)
There is a social pressure on sororities not to formally report these incidents, Paz-Le Draoulec says. Sororities are defined by their social calendar. Paz-Le Draoulec explains that making a top fraternity angry would tank a sorority’s standing among the roughly one-third of Cornell undergraduates in the Greek system.
I watch a lot of true crime podcasts. Just watched one on this situation and the two lawyers discussed the facts and the possibility of her success on the civil case and if any criminal cases will be brought. Mark Bederow is a NY criminal lawyer and I find him very balanced. He criticized the DA for going on the morning TV circuit and discussing his case, but also criticized the AG for commenting she was all for the victim before even starting the ‘impartial investigation.’ He did say Jane Doe’s attorney (for the civil case) is very good and a fair person to have on the other side of a case.
Mark also discusses the different standards for a Title IX hearing (by Cornell) and criminal investigations and trials.
Although he thought legally there isn’t much of a criminal case (using NY law as the basis) and thought it would be a good case to try as a bench trial to keep this from an emotional jury, he did think Cornell will take action to get rid of all Greek life and that being unable to get insurance for their houses or activities will be the end. The other attorney didn’t agree with him on the Greek destruction prediction, and Mark was in a fraternity (president for 2 years) and Peter (other guy) wasn’t in Greek life but his wife was so he attended a lot of events at FSU.
The “Shift” Effect: Sexual assault research shows that when a campus lacks fraternities, high-risk social environments don’t disappear—they shift. At schools without Greek life, social life often revolves around athletic teams, co-op houses, eating clubs, or off-campus house parties, which frequently exhibit similar party-culture dynamics and power imbalances. Reference-Banyard, V. L., Moynihan, M. M., & Crossman, J. S. (2009). Reducing sexual violence on campus: The role of peer bystanders. Violence Against Women,
Similar for my kids when they were involved in Greek life. They were required to work a few shifts each semester as “sobers” and designated drivers. Multiple sobers attended each date party or mixer to keep an eye on things, but I don’t think they necessarily watched out for underage drinking. Designated drivers were on call to bring students safely home. There was also had one or two (sober) upperclassmen in charge running a group text with the sobers/DDs the entire night with continual updates of who not to serve anymore, when to cut off entry (crowd control) and making sure every student got home safe with a DD. As a parent, it all seemed very responsible at the time. But now I wonder, what if someone was unknowingly over-served, especially underage, and what the liability would have been if something had happened.
Thank you, but that’s not the one. I thought it might be as well, but the details of the title are not quite right and I read the whole thing and it has no mention of the “shift” effect.
According to the alert, an unidentified suspect fled the building after an individual intervened
Good at least to hear that someone cared enough to intervene in this circumstance.
This was interesting too -
The AEPi national organization also requires that events where alcohol is present have a guest list, operate by invitation only, and maintain a guest-to-member ratio no greater than 3:1. A banner advertising the “Pi2K” party where the assault occurred was visible on the frat house’s exterior as of approximately 4:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
The page says that the victim “is not affiliated with the University of Chicago”, but the suspect is still unknown (but seen on security camera footage). It also says that the incident occurred “at” the fraternity house, rather than specifically “in” the fraternity house. It also says that “The AEPi national organization also requires that events where alcohol is present have a guest list, operate by invitation only, and maintain a guest-to-member ratio no greater than 3:1.”
It also looks like the incident was reported to police shortly thereafter, rather than delayed reporting that seems common with these types of crimes.
The GPAs of Greek members are usually higher than the average at most colleges. While a house may have a budget for a particular social event like homecoming or winter formal, I doubt many have beer or drugs as a budget line item. Even if the house can’t have a Halloween party at the house, they may be able to redirect the funds to something else, like a weekend away like a ski weekend or beach trip.
The ban doesn’t say the houses can’t host events outside the house, it says they can’t have parties at the house (at least that is what is being reported; maybe the actual order from the school is more limiting). Sororities host their events elsewhere (hotels for dances, weekends away, travel to other schools for football games, joint events AT frats) and usually it is a ‘pay as you participate’ arrangement, so I don’t think there will be any changes there. This night started for Jane Doe by her attending a mixer with a frat at a bar. It’s unlikely either the frat or sorority paid anything for the event, but the bar hoping to make money through the purchase of drinks and food. If they can’t party in the houses, it’s likely more of these ‘bar’ events will take place. Or even a a field like we partied in high school. There is always somewhere to go.
I think Cornell has to take action but fear they are overreaching (2 years later) and taking the most drastic steps, punishing all Greeks (and thus 1/3 of the students). Virginia did this a few years ago after the Rolling Stones article which turned out to be a lie, and Virginia could have found this out by talking to those living in the frat and to the friends of the accuser who were quoted in the article.
Not as many as you might think. According to https://scl.cornell.edu/sites/scl/files/documents/Spring%202025%20Grades%20Report_Formatted_Final.pdf , fraternity / sorority students had a similar average GPA to non the full Cornell student body. This may partially relate to frat members being more likely to be upperclassmen, and Cornell restricting students from joining fraternities until 2nd semester of freshmen year.
The more relevant question to this thread is how the ban will impact rate of SAs. I’m sure all former frat members are not going to stop drinking and partying. Many will no doubt drink and party elsewhere. The ban may decrease rates, but it’s unclear degree of that decrease.
I suspect the more significant impact will be the case itself. I expect nearly every student at Cornell is acutely aware of the case and the strong impact it is having on campus. This will result in students being more aware of SA, more aware of putting themselves in situations where SAs may occur or may be accused of SA, more likely to report both current and past SAs, more likely for reports to have further investigation, etc. All of this will have an impact.
And greater awareness among restaurant, bar and liquor store owners that there will be eyes on them going forward.
I would NOT want to be the liquor store whose tag is on the empty keg in the back room of that frat waiting to be exchanged for a full keg. Or to be the owner of that store if the enforcement team discovers that the frat didn’t pay for the keg because they have a “House Account” and settle up once a month.
