Regarding the Sept. 29 front-page article “Case of alleged rape being reopened”:
In 2018, when I was a collegiate wrestler at Northern State University, my team was my brotherhood and my sport was my whole world. But when I was assaulted after a Halloween party, everything I thought I knew about strength and safety shattered. Men are taught that silence is strength and that being “weak” is unforgivable. Yet I broke that code when I reported the assault, and my perpetrator ultimately admitted what he had done and was forced to leave campus.
That process didn’t give me my wrestling career back, but it did give me something vital: the chance to start healing. Because my school carried its weight, I didn’t have to fight to prove what happened to me.
That is why I am watching the recent civil lawsuit against Cornell University and seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity, among others, with outright anger. According to the filing, a former student alleges she was drugged and assaulted by seven men at a fraternity in 2024. The lawsuit stated that the alleged perpetrators were temporarily suspended but allowed to “mitigate their conduct” by writing essays. Cornell said in a statement Monday that “none of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement.”
Nevertheless, true institutional justice requires moral backbone. It begins when a person says, “This happened to me,” and the institution refuses to force the victim to fight tooth and nail to demand proper accountability.
Far too many universities remain terrified of bad publicity and therefore don’t protect their students. Survivors deserve better.
Justice Horn, Kansas City, Missouri
The allegations involving a former Cornell student are horrifying. In a civil lawsuit, she alleged that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by fraternity members in 2024. Cornell says its disciplinary process resulted in suspensions and expulsions. The allegations remain contested, and criminal responsibility has not been established. But after almost 20 years as a lawyer working in the field of sexual violence, there is something I wish more people understood: What is exceptional about the Cornell case is the attention it is receiving.
Too much of what surrounds it is painfully familiar. Volare, the organization I co-founded, has served about 13,000 survivors of crime. At our height, our lawyers handled roughly 50 Title IX matters annually in D.C. alone. When you see that volume of cases, certain myths become difficult to maintain. For example, federal data of rape and sexual assault among college-age women between 1995 and 2013 found that about 80 percent knew the person who assaulted them.
I want my daughter and my son to understand something this work has taught me: Courage is often much less cinematic than we imagine. Sometimes it is leaving the party with the person who cannot safely leave alone. Sometimes it is telling the truth about what your friend did when everyone around you would prefer that you didn’t. And sometimes it is resisting the comfort of believing that terrible things happen only under extraordinary circumstances.
The Cornell allegations have captured enormous attention. I hope we do not mistake our shock for evidence that what they describe is rare. Progress happens when what we know changes how we investigate, how we judge credibility — and whether we intervene when someone is vulnerable. We already know too much to keep getting this wrong.
Bridgette Stumpf, Washington
The writer is the CEO and co-founder of Volare.
The Sept. 29 front-page article and additional coverage about the young woman’s lawsuit alleging that she was gang raped by seven members of a Cornell fraternity two years ago makes me furious and sick. I cannot stop thinking about it.
It is crucial to take serious steps immediately to change the rape culture on college campuses and ensure that all students feel safe, are respected and are taken seriously. This isn’t just about Cornell. The Greek life system should be abolished around the country. From this horrible episode to hazing deaths at fraternities to fraternities that became cocaine distributors, it is clear that the Greek system is significantly harming students. All colleges and universities around the country need to completely revamp what they do to better understand sexual violence, prevent sexual violence and protect all students. They should know better. They must do better.
Rebecca Batt, Rockville
The perks of lifelong learning
I enjoyed the Sept. 17 Roundup, “‘It was a mistake’: What four writers wish they’d studied.” Far too many people think of education as a finite chapter that occurs only in the early years of life. Just because you marched in a graduation ceremony does not mean you have to stop learning. Night classes, mini-degrees and hobbies can allow you to continue learning throughout life. And there is always the choice to pick up a book and read.
A healthy life involves work, family, spirituality and recreation, as well as learning about the world. So, remember the person you were when your age was counted in single digits. You probably loved art, music, reading, math and sports. Figure out how to keep learning, and you will fight off depression, alienation and weariness.
Stuart Gallant, Belmont, Massachusetts
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