Several of the Chi Phi fraternity brothers involved in the Cornell University scandal allegedly tried to contain the gang rape allegations made against them, according to new phone calls released from the investigation.
After a student went to campus police to report that she had been gang raped by seven members of Chi Phi in October 2024, several of the fraternity brothers allegedly tried to do “damage control” to make sure the victim was “not upset about the situation,” according to school records reviewed by ABC News.
The fraternity brothers’ efforts came as the victim – identified as Jane Doe to protect her privacy – went from believing the sexual encounters were consensual to describing the situation as a “gang rape” on a phone call.
“The only way for me to heal is to know what happened,” the woman, who was a junior at the time of the incident, told one of her alleged attackers during a phone call that took place before she reported the incident to police on November 8, 2024. “That’s why I’m trying to just piece it together, you know, like I’m just like confused.”
He then invited Doe to the fraternity house, according to the police report. (The fraternity brothers denied any wrongdoing and hve not been criminally charged in the case.)
After Doe reported the incident to Cornell police, he claimed he was too intoxicated to consent and suggested that Doe assaulted him, per school records.
Campus police spoke to many witnesses to piece together what happened, with one person stating that the fraternity brothers tried to ease Doe’s concerns.
“They tried to contact [Jane] almost every day after it happened to, I guess, keep them on her good side and keep her happy and not upset about the situation,” the victim’s friend told campus authorities in May 2025, according to records viewed by ABC News.
Despite their efforts to deescalate Doe’s concerns, she still went forward and reported the incident. The fraternity members then allegedly started working on their plan to cover up the incident, according to records.
“F***,” one brother wrote in a group chat on November 8, 2024, after Doe went to campus police. “Should I call [Jane]?”
“Wait a bit for me and [Executive Board] to figure out what we’re doing cuz there are a couple of other things going on,” the fraternity’s president responded, per the outlet. “When was the last time you spoke to [Jane]?”
The records also revealed that Doe stayed in touch with some of the men who allegedly assaulted her, and she even expressed concerns about her reputation and physical health in the aftermath of the attack.
“I will also say this is f***ing RUINING my life temporarily. My reputation is destroyed and I’m utterly ashamed. I’m f***ing pissed cause this many people shouldn’t know and I feel like I know who some of the rats in the room were,” she wrote to the alleged attacked after he invited her to the fraternity.
Two days after she reported the incident, Doe reportedly contacted three of the alleged attackers involved in the incident so they could discuss what had happened. She told them that she had gone to the emergency room and was going through therapy.
“If I just know what happened, then I can feel a little bit better and move on and maybe be able to stay at this school,” Doe told the alleged attacker in a phone call, which she recorded and gave to police.
Doe said she sustained physical harm during the incident, and said she was struggling to finish the semester and could not understand how the events transpired.
“You did tell me you were sober, by the way,” he said, per the recording. “You did, you said you hadn’t been anywhere.”
However, Doe insisted that his claim was “not true” and she “never would have said that.”
Doe then asked how so many people ended up in the bedroom, and he responded, “The door was just unlocked…the party was sort of like crowded…there was nowhere else to go.”
The alleged attacker did not mention the Snapchat messages that were sent to the fraternity’s group chat, in which the members advertised “free p***y” in the room. “Like you can walk in and whip it out,” he wrote to the group, per ABC News. “Boys come whip it out.”
Also during the phone call, Doe told the alleged attacker that what “y’all did would be classified as gang rape.”
“It’s possible that both of us like remember this and it’s not true,” he said later on in the call.
“I don’t think that that’s true. No, no, because I remember looking up and being like that is too many people,” she responded.
Hours after Doe went to police, Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity was suspended and an investigation was launched. The school ultimately suspended two of the men that allegedly assaulted her. However, the five others that she claimed assaulted her were only suspended. No one has been pressed with criminal charges.
Nearly two years after the incident, Doe filed a civil complaint and Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced his office was reopening an investigation into the allegations.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
