Last week, Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff attempted to rebound from recent headlines when he announced that in light of Jane Doe’s sexual misconduct suit against the university, Cornell fraternity parties would be canceled for the remainder of the 2026-27 academic year. This decision is certainly a step in the right direction — and is a quite literal response to recent student backlash that insists “frat culture is rape culture” — but it’s not enough.
I’ve never been to a frat party — my undergraduate institution, an elite liberal arts college in New England, did away with Greek life in 1984, decades before I’d ever enroll. And in 2010, my sophomore fall, the college banned hard alcohol possession and consumption campus-wide. On the surface, Kotlikoff might see opportunity in a campus environment like this, crafting public perception of a rare safe haven, a bucolic oasis free from sexual assault and disorderly conduct.
But even in the absence of fraternities — and, to the best of my knowledge, alcohol — a sexual misconduct case involving members of my college’s football team secretly watching a female student perform oral sex on one of their teammates plagued the institution back in 2011, making national news. I covered the incident in depth as a student reporter. It’s unfortunate, though not surprising, that events of this nature are still taking place 15 years later, as many campuses like Cornell’s have yet to implement any real systemic change.
In an interview with the New York Times, Kotlikoff cited Ithaca’s lack of bars and other social venues as having bolstered the significance on Cornell’s Greek life on campus in recent years, as if having fewer downtown watering holes (presumably reserved for those age 21-plus) is to blame for excess drinking and the university’s numerous assault cases like Jane Doe’s.
I’m not convinced that local Ithaca bars and restaurants — many of which, per Kotlikoff’s statement, didn’t survive the pandemic — were integral in preventing sexual misconduct. After all, research indicates that it’s alcohol consumed, regardless of the venue, that plays a role in 50% to 70% of sexual assaults on college campuses. Moreover, Cornell’s own data indicate that sexual assaults most commonly occurred in residence halls, followed by off-campus residences.
To his credit, Kotlikoff did acknowledge in his university-wide announcement that “campus sexual assault” is not limited to the fraternity system. He also outlined efforts to “strengthen our systems of support for survivors of sexual assault” and highlighted other measures that Cornell will take in relation to “education, oversight, and enforcement of safe social behavior and citizenship.” Yet following the declaration of something as intelligible and as immediate as a fraternity party ban, these statements seem more like afterthoughts than true plans of action.
Kotlikoff added that the university will plan to “accelerate the implementation of the recommendations of the Presidential Task Force on Sexual Assault,” which was established in 2025. Some of the task force’s recommendations focus on student safety and empowerment, and one pertained to campus course offerings and proposed that Cornell implement the following:
- Develop new courses and enhance existing classes that increase competency and understanding about sex
- Develop one or more new courses on sexual citizenship (recognizing one’s own right to sexual self-determination, and that of others)
- Incorporate sexual citizenship concepts into first-year advising classes
- Identify and support existing classes related to sexual citizenship
Truthfully, this acceleration should already be in practice, as the time to begin offering — and mandating — such courses begins now, ahead of enrollment next semester. The university needs to move swiftly to rework its 2027 offerings and academic schedule so that all students, regardless of class year, will complete a required, graded course that encompasses the aforementioned concepts. Moving forward, this requirement will be an integral component of the first-year curriculum, as well as for members of Cornell’s robust sophomore transfer cohort.
College has long been revered as an environment for students to think critically and develop lifelong knowledge and experience, which can be achieved only through tangible learning opportunities. Fraternity and other social bans do not put any impetus on students to directly change their behavior — if they did, institutions devoid of Greek life would, ideally, be immune from sexual misconduct cases, which we know is not the case.
By framing teachings surrounding sexual assault and consent as part of the core academic curriculum, Cornell will underscore just how seriously it views these matters while also mandating active student participation in key conversations. But the time to start making this kind of educational change is now, while the horrors of Jane Doe’s experience are still fresh in students’ minds.
Sarah Lyon is a culture writer in Manhattan whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and Architectural Digest.
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