It was Hawaiian Night at the Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University, and students flowed in and out. The woman now known as Jane Doe arrived at about 11 p.m., having already had several drinks, and headed upstairs.
But one person was missing from the sprawling Tudor house on Edgemoor Lane: a live-in adviser.
University rules required the fraternity to have a responsible adult living in and watching over the house at all times during the school year.
But on the night in 2024 that Jane Doe said she was sexually assaulted there by seven of the fraternity’s members, no such person was on hand — or even employed by the fraternity, according to interviews and records obtained by The New York Times.
The failure to hire a live-in adviser was an apparent violation of rules adopted in the wake of earlier scandals involving fraternities at Cornell. But it also seemed to be emblematic of a larger breakdown in oversight, by the fraternity, its members and the university itself, on the night of the alleged assault.
The former student said in a lawsuit filed in September that she had been drinking on Oct. 19, 2024, before meeting up with Chi Phi members at a party at the house, where she was plied with ketamine and sexually assaulted over several hours. All the men she accused have denied any wrongdoing. None have been charged with a crime.
Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter was suspended soon after the woman reported being raped to university investigators. An email obtained by The Times sent to a group of fraternity alumni on Feb. 9, 2025, said that the lack of a live-in adviser resulted in “one more major violation and vulnerability to the chapter.”
Such advisers had been required since 2021 as part of reforms enacted by the university’s former president, Martha Pollack, after a hazing scandal involving the Sigma Nu fraternity.
“The stakes are high, and leaders of student organizations must come to understand their responsibility to promote the health and safety of our campus community,” Ms. Pollack said in announcing the reforms.
The rules required fraternities and sororities or a related organization to hire the advisers, and records suggest that Chi Phi had complied with the requirements in years past. Traditionally, the fraternity gave the job to an alumnus or graduate student, tax records and interviews show.
In 2024, the university’s rules required the adviser to have moved in at the start of the academic year, which began on Aug. 26.
In an email, Rebecca Valli, a spokeswoman for Cornell, said that the university confirmed in writing with Chi Phi fraternity members in mid-September 2024 that a recent graduate would live in the chapter house as its adviser.
A lawyer for the recent graduate, Blake Haberstock, said his client signed licensing paperwork with Cornell to serve in the position, but never accepted the job because it was never officially offered to him by the fraternity.
“While he was in discussions for the position, it never materialized,” said the lawyer, Adam Ford.
He said his client was not even in Ithaca the night of the Chi Phi party.
Mr. Ford, who represents several other former Chi Phi members, added that many of his clients, including Mr. Haberstock, became victims of online harassment after their names were listed in social media posts that falsely accused them of being active members of the fraternity on the night of the party.
Gillian Fisher, a lawyer for Chi Phi, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ms. Valli, the Cornell spokeswoman, said that the university requires a fraternity’s national organization or local housing corporation to notify Cornell of any changes to their live-in adviser arrangement. She said that Chi Phi had not notified the school of any such changes, and added that Cornell does not take steps to independently verify the status of live-in advisers on campus.
Students active in other fraternities at Cornell said in interviews that live-in advisers have duties like stocking cleaning supplies and toilet paper and ensuring the house stays clean. Some fraternities require them also to be present for social events at the house, including weekend and late-night parties.
Calls to more than a dozen former Chi Phi students, including previous live-in advisers, to ask about the traditional role of their live-in adviser, went unanswered.
During the period when the Chi Phi house at Cornell was apparently without a live-in adviser, the fraternity members were partying hard, the records and interviews show.
Ketamine appeared to be easily accessible and less than 24 hours before Jane Doe arrived for the party, the campus police made a drug-related arrest there.
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