Why the Cornell gang rape case has raised concerns about fraternity culture

Published On 12 Oct 202612 Oct 2026.

Key points

• When Phi Beta Kappa was founded as a secret society for debate and scholarly exchange, the tradition began at the College of William and Mary in 1776.
• One industry group, the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), represents 58 fraternities spread throughout 600 schools.
• Historian Nicholas Syrett wrote regarding the origins of such groups in his book The Business He Keeps: A History of White College Fraternities.
• "This isn't a hobbyist club, " remarked anthropologist Aldo Cimino, a Kent State University professor who studies fraternity hazing.
• One of the earliest recorded deaths associated with fraternity hazing took place at Cornell in 1873.

For more than 40 percent of US presidents, the fraternity hall was an early stop on the road to the White House.

Fraternal organisations, more commonly known as fraternities or frats, have a long and storied history on college campuses in the United States.

One industry group, the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), represents 58 fraternities spread throughout 600 schools. It claims almost 200, 000 undergraduate students as active members and an alumni population of 4.2 million.

Meanwhile, the draw for college-aged men is the promise of brotherhood, a bond that transcends keg parties and late-night revelry. Like sororities and other members-only student organisations, fraternities are often touted as pathways to personal, academic and professional success.

But critics argue that some fraternities have leveraged their exclusivity to encourage and normalise violence, dangling social acceptance as a reward for compliance.

"This isn't a hobbyist club, " remarked anthropologist Aldo Cimino, a Kent State University professor who studies fraternity hazing. "It is the seriousness of the affiliation that has generated the intensity of these induction rituals."

In recent weeks, one case has renewed debate over fraternity culture and whether the campus organisations employ their exclusivity to shield bad behaviour.

In September, an anonymous woman known as Jane Doe filed a civil lawsuit against the Chi Phi fraternity at Cornell University and seven of its members, accusing them of gang raping her during a party on the night of October 19, 2024.

Doe's sorority, Delta Delta Delta, and Cornell itself are among the co-defendants.

Her lawsuit raises questions regarding fraternity and sorority culture at US schools, collectively known as "Greek life" for the groups' apply of Greek lettering and symbols.

Upon her admission to Cornell, Doe argues she encountered a "glorified – yet materially false and misleading – facade" for Greek life.

"She arrived on a campus where the University actively promoted Greek membership as a 'vital' part of the campus community and endorsed these organizations as well-managed, worthy pathways to new friendships and improving one's educational and professional opportunities, " the lawsuit remarked.

In practice, the complaint accuses the fraternities of instead perpetuating a pattern of sexual assault and abuse.

Now a multibillion-dollar industry, fraternities in the US trace their origins to men-only clubs established at some of the country's oldest universities.

Its adoption of the Greek alphabet, oath of secrecy, and arcane membership rites supported establish a blueprint for future fraternities and sororities. Often with houses of their own, fraternities eventually grew into informal extensions of the campus residential system.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, he explained that fraternities have long embraced so-called masculine ideals. But those ideals have changed from generation to generation.

Previously, fraternities sought to position themselves in "opposition to boyhood" by embracing "independence, strength of character, handsomeness and loyalty", Syrett explained.

But their modern iteration has shifted to include a greater emphasis on "athleticism, sexual success with women, and recklessness" as well as alpha-male posturing.

Syrett argues that the fraternity system's cult of toughness reflects a wider matrix of gendered expectations and social hierarchies.

Early fraternity men, Syrett notes, prized intellect and academic distinction, provided neither betrayed too much effort. But "this has largely taken a backseat in contemporary fraternities", he explained.

"When are initiated, they are taught that loyalty to the brotherhood is of the utmost importance, " Syrett remarked of fraternities today. "This leads to the keeping of all kinds of secrets, including things that are against the rules and/or the law." A mark of elite status.

In the two and a half centuries since the first fraternities were formed, Greek life has expanded to include different races and identities outside of white men.

Some Greek groups have even eschewed the traditional gender divide altogether to better embrace transgender and non-binary members.

But fraternities and sororities overall tend to act as "microcosms of the larger society", according to Elizabeth Allan, a professor at the University of Maine and director of its Hazing Prevention Research Lab, "with race, pretty privilege and economic segregation helping shape the system".

"The stratification that we see in the larger society is going to be reflected, in large part, in many of these organisations, unless they're actively working to disrupt it, " she continued.

Between membership dues and rent at fraternity chapter houses, Greek organisations can cost out all but the more affluent students, according to Allan.

"Pretty privilege" – the social bias in favour of those deemed conventionally attractive – can add to the pressure, with sorority applicants in particular shelling out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for cosmetic treatments and outfits.

Experts say the sense of exclusivity that plenty of fraternities and sororities cultivate is a powerful draw for incoming students. This person see membership as a path to upward social mobility.

That perception is reinforced by the groups' internal dynamics. Plenty of sororities and fraternities encourage networking among members.

In practice, a 2021 Gallup survey commissioned by the NIC and the National Panhellenic Conference discovered that 42 percent of fraternity or sorority alumni stated a fellow member had supported them find an internship or job.

Meanwhile, 51 percent of Greek members documented having a job waiting at graduation or identified employment within two months. The rate was much lower among those who were not members of such fraternities or sororities, at 36 percent. How hazing shapes fraternities.

Critics often point to hazing rituals in particular as shaping a culture of violence at some fraternities and sororities.

Hazing is a process through which prospective Greek life members undergo humiliating and sometimes perilous tasks to secure admission.

Though the definitions, penalties and scope of such laws vary, the phenomenon is prohibited by law in most US states. The consequences, nevertheless, can be deadly.

At the time, a group of "pledges" – would-be fraternity members – were blindfolded and led far from campus at night, with instructions to create their way back on their own.

In the dark, one of the pledges, Mortimer M Leggett, and two fraternity members stumbled over a cliff and plunged into the gorge of Six Mile Creek. The two fraternity members survived. Leggett, nevertheless, did not.

For now, why the Cornell gang rape case has raised concerns about fraternity culture remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.