Or, why are they supported? Cheered on? Covered up? Who supports them? Other rapists? Sympathizers? Will they ask what she was wearing? Or say that she knew what she was getting herself into? That she asked for it? Because somehow, in their strange world, someone would ask for that, want to be treated like garbage?
That is all that swarms through my brain when I read about the Cornell 7. They are a group of seven men who are being sued by a former student for an alleged gang rape in 2024 at the Chi Phi fraternity house.
Their names are Matthew Ingalls, Jonathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar.
While a woman tackles the unraveling of severe trauma, the majority of these men got off the easy way. They wrote an essay. One day this will blow over, and students will keep applying to Cornell, and the men will likely live lives of privilege. Their parents could possibly pay off the school, the administration could sweep it under the rug — the possibilities are endless. Unless they lose their legal battle, they will likely walk free.
And so it goes. They can walk around at night in the dark, go to a bar and not cover their drink, go to a party and walk away unscathed. Something that I feel is starting to arise among us more and more, a very unique type of anger that twists your moral compass. The fact that I want to write Cornell Admissions the longest, most targeted email in the world, that deep in my heart I want to drive to their university and just scream at them, make them feel some ounce of shame. All things that I cannot do, will not do, and should not do.
How would Cornell react to that? Maybe that behavior would get a harsher sentence than a rapist. This is because to them, the true crime is not covering up the inhumane actions of their students — it is making the public aware of them and risking a worsening reputation.
Which makes me ask: why do we defend rapists? Why are rapists headlining sold-out shows in the biggest stadiums? Why are rapists directing million-dollar movies? It is so cruelly unfair that women and other vulnerable groups have to live in a world where they are constantly walking around with a target on their back, dodging monsters left and right while society holds them up. For it to be as bad as it is in 2026 is despicable.
It is of course not the first time something like this has happened. The case of former Stanford student Brock Turner comes to mind, who now walks free underneath the name Allen Turner. After being caught in the act of raping an unconscious woman, he was found guilty of the following: assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. He was released from jail after three months. I will be very surprised if the Cornell 7 are in jail for more than a year, if at all.
I am urging anybody who is keeping on top of the situation to not let this be just another case. Do not let these men’s names go missing, and do not let anyone forget what they have done. If you let this be “another case,” what will you do when it happens again and again? The only way to reject a rapist from society is to speak their name so loudly that they cannot hide from it. Speak loudly enough that the ignorant feel true guilt.
