Rage against the Cornell 7 is at best premature and at worst is strengthening the dangerous tendency to call for the destruction of people accused of wrongdoing before all the facts are known. Before a final and rational judgment can be made, the matter must be more thoroughly investigated and resolved through due process of law. Members of the mob trolling for the destruction of the lives of the Cornell 7 before all is known should stop and think of the consequences should they themselves be accused of wrongdoing and get trolled instead.
The furor over the Case of the Cornell 7 is reminiscent of the initial reactions to the accusations of rape made against the Duke University Lacrosse team in 2006 and the University of Virginia’s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity chapter in 2014. In both instances, furor was instantaneous and overwhelming, and directed against young white males considered privileged by virtue of their race, sex, and apparent wealth, before systematic investigation and analysis of the facts showed that the accusations were phony and the cases hoaxes.
In the Duke case, one of two black female strippers charged that she was raped by a team member at a party for which she was hired to perform. In this case, the Mob, including many Duke faculty and students, as well as news commentators and their readers and audiences, condemned the accused rapists as privileged white boys (although Duke’s female Lacrosse team members supported their male counterparts). The local district attorney, Mike Nifong, to whip up Black support for his endangered political career, promised a vigorous prosecution. Ultimately, however, the North Carolina Attorney General’s office exonerated the accused, saying the rape had never occurred (a point also made by the other stripper), and that Nifong had suppressed exculpatory evidence, including a report that there was no DNA evidence to support the accusation. Nifong was removed as DA, disbarred, briefly imprisoned, and driven to bankruptcy following lawsuits by Duke lacrosse players trolled by his mob. Good. Incidentally, the stripper who made the accusation of rape apologized in December 2024, and admitted she had lied. Better late than never.
In 2014, the Mob began to troll the University of Virginia chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity after Rolling Stone published an article by Sabrina Erdely, who wrote that in 2012 a student identified only as “Jackie” had been gang-raped by the fraternity’s members, and that a UVA associate dean, Nicole Eramo, had unsympathetically mishandled the case. Erdely and Rolling Stone had accepted “Jackie’s” version of events without bothering to do any fact checking, such as asking the accused for their side of the story. Again, while much anger was directed against privileged young white men, no evidence of an actual rape could be produced. The matter was ultimately adjudicated in libel suits filed by the fraternity chapter and Associate Dean Eramo against Rolling Stone and Erdeley. The fraternity ultimately won $1.65 million, and Eramo won $3 million. Good.
Of course, sometimes outrage is both justified and actually productive, as was shown in the Brock Turner case, a student at Stanford University in California and, like the Duke and UVA students, young, white, male, and apparently privileged. In 2016, he was convicted of three counts of felony sexual assault of an intoxicated and unconscious woman whom he then deposited in a trash dumpster (fortunately, witnesses were able to call the police, restrain him until the police arrived, rescue his victim from the dumpster, and supply critical testimony leading to his conviction at his trial). While the conviction proved to be a slam dunk, at issue was his sentence. Turner’s morally loathsome father argued for leniency, saying it would not be fair to ruin his son’s life with a lengthy prison sentence over an event that lasted only 20 minutes. The equally morally loathsome judge, Aaron Persky, agreed, and sentenced him to only 6 months in jail (Of which he served only 3) and 3 years of probation. The public promptly voted the judge out of office. Subsequently, a school district which had hired him to coach a high school’s girls tennis team fired him as well. In the last week, Brock Turner’s photo and name have become Facebook memes posted by members of the online mob out to get the Cornell 7.
The relevant lessons from the Duke and UVA cases should be obvious. One who is accused of rape (or any other wrongdoing, for that matter) is not necessarily guilty. Investigation and, if necessary, adjudication through due process of law must precede any rational determination of guilt or innocence. Moreover, it can be inferred that the willingness of the mobs out to destroy the Duke and UVA students were motivated at least in part by the fact that the accused rapists were young, white, male, privileged men taking advantage of weak and defenseless women. Women, Blacks, Latinos, Gays and Lesbians, the transgendered, etc., are not the only targets of prejudice.
And a major lesson to be drawn from the Brock Turner case is that outrage can be justified and even some degree of vengeance can be exacted if, when, and after the true facts are known. Neither Turner nor Judge Persky will ever escape the stigma of their decisions.
It’s obvious from what is already known of the Cornell 7 case that moral depravity was rampant the night of the alleged rape. How could such depravity not be present with the presence of booze, drugs, and quests for group sex? But were there actual rapes? And, if so, who actually did it? The facts are only now beginning to come to light, and more time will be needed before anyone can be said to truly know what really happened. Even the memories of Jane Doe and the Cornell 7 may not be altogether reliable. Experts friendly to Jane Doe have argued that victims alleging sexual assault can be so traumatized that time is required for them to fully sort through their memories, determine which are true and which are false, and present narratives that are coherent and—most importantly—accurate, before justice can be done.
But a few facts seem well established already: Jane Doe has admitted she was drinking heavily well before she went to the fraternity and, once there, she expressed willingness to participate in at least a threesome, while hoping to see some gay sex as well.
Also, apparently, one of her earliest reactions to that night was a text message to someone the morning after saying that nothing illegal had transpired. Under New York law, a woman who consents to sex while intoxicated cannot subsequently claim she was raped if her intoxication was voluntary. The local prosecutor may have had this in mind when he initially declined to criminally prosecute the case.
But all the facts must come out. The various police and prosecutors’ reports should be released not only to the media, as has already been done, but to the public as well. Jane Doe must have the opportunity to provide a coherent account of what happened and the responsibility to explain and defend it. And the Cornell 7—however young, white, male, and privileged they may be—must be granted, through due process of law, the right to defend themselves and the responsibility to accept the consequences of their actions, if found guilty or liable for rape. Those with whom Jane Doe had voluntary sex should be exonerated while those with whom the sex was involuntary must be punished. Only after the most serious and thorough review of the facts can truly fair and rational judgments of Jane Doe and the Cornell 7 be made.
And for those of you who think I’m being too insensitive to Jane Doe’s plight or going too easy on a group of frat boys, I’d like to pose the following question: If you were accused of any sort of wrongdoing, wouldn’t you want due process as well? Otherwise, do not send for whom the mob trolls. It trolls for thee.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024). He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville Economic Development Authority since 2018, and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015. He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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