Controversy Surrounding Cornell Fraternity Case

Sunny Hostin, a co-host of “The View,” has expressed her support for the decision made by a district attorney in upstate New York not to press charges against several fraternity brothers from Cornell University. These individuals were accused in a recent lawsuit of gang raping a fellow student.

During a discussion on the show Tuesday, Hostin argued that there was “no way” Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten could have pursued charges, especially considering the details provided by the accuser in her initial statement to campus police following the reported incident in 2024.

Hostin, who has a background as a federal prosecutor, stated, “She allowed other boys and consented to other boys snorting ketamine off of her body.” She emphasized that, under New York law, being voluntarily intoxicated or using drugs does not equate to an inability to consent to sexual activity.

“If you voluntarily ingest drugs, voluntarily take alcohol, you can agree to have threesomes. In her statement, she actually consented to two separate threesomes,” Hostin explained. “Given her statement from 2024, there’s no way a prosecutor could have brought the case forward.”

Her comments referred to the details in the accuser’s initial report to campus police, released by Van Houten, which he used to clarify his reasons for not pursuing charges. The report included explicit descriptions of a night filled with heavy drinking and drug use involving numerous members of Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity.

Even though the accuser claimed she was highly intoxicated, she did not indicate that the alcohol or ketamine had been forced upon her. Furthermore, she repeatedly stated that she had consented to the various sexual encounters, which the DA noted in his recap of the events.

Hostin, whose daughter is a current student at Cornell, pointed out that under current New York law, this meant the accuser was actively consenting. She added, “What I’m saying is if the law were different in New York, it would be a different case. However, according to her account from 2024, she mentioned finding one of the guys attractive and agreed to a threesome when she got there.”

Despite the DA’s explanation and the details mentioned in the police report, the accuser has filed a 101-page lawsuit against seven fraternity members, alleging either participation in her assault or committing outright rape.

The lawsuit also included a text conversation among the fraternity brothers, with one claiming there was “free p–sy” in a bedroom, while others remarked about their ability to “walk in and whip it out.”

After the incident, which the 20-year-old accuser reported a week later, campus police took the case to the DA, who opted not to charge anyone involved.

The fate of the accused fraternity brothers remains somewhat unclear following this. According to the lawsuit, Cornell allegedly offered them a chance to “mitigate their conduct by submitting essays,” a claim the university disputed. However, some of the fraternity members were said to have faced expulsion.

Even with the DA’s assertion that no crime was reported in the accuser’s account, “The View” co-hosts raised questions about her motivations for reporting if she didn’t believe a crime had occurred. Host Lisa Ling questioned, “I wonder why she’d even report this if she didn’t believe there was some criminality involved?”

Ling further added, “How can the law protect and argue that somebody who we know, when she arrived, had 10 drinks? Sunny is absolutely right on this. How could you possibly consent? How could you be in a decision-making state?”

In light of the lawsuit and its allegations, Van Houten has announced that his office is reevaluating the case to consider potential charges.