Elite universities are supposed to be resilient and stalwart defenders of the truth. So, if Cornell is making decisions in a panic to avoid political backlash, what exactly makes it an “elite” university?
Cornell University has announced that it is banning all fraternity parties and social events on campus for the rest of the year, promising “immediate emergency suspensions” for any violators under a zero-tolerance policy. This is in response to political pressure on the university from social media activists and Democratic politicians after the alleged gang rape scandal surfaced a few weeks ago.
LAWYER FOR STUDENT NAMED IN CORNELL RAPE CASE CALLS FOR LETITIA JAMES TO STEP DOWN
There are a few problems with this decision. For one, the fraternity involved in the alleged gang rape incident was already shut down by Cornell. It no longer exists. This November will mark two years since Cornell banned the fraternity, meaning that Cornell is punishing all the other fraternities and students for the actions of a fraternity that does not exist and hasn’t existed for the entire time Cornell’s freshman and sophomore classes have been at the university.
More importantly, though, Cornell is doing this based on no evidence that a rape ever occurred, other than the female student’s claim, weeks after the encounter, that it must have been rape. In fact, all the evidence that we have thus far, including her text messages with other students, indicates that this was a consensual sexual encounter, one that the female student described as a “gangbang,” saying “none of the sexual stuff was illegal” and “our body our choice.” In her conversation with police, the female accuser claimed, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped,” but described a series of consensual decisions she made and said that the men involved stopped every time she asked them to stop.
THE CORNELL ALLEGATIONS AND FEMINISM’S DOUBLE STANDARD ON FEMALE AGENCY
In other words, Cornell is imposing collective punishment on its student population that does nothing to punish the alleged offenders, based on an alleged crime that still doesn’t appear to be a crime at all. Cornell is making reactive decisions based on social media posts and liberal media pressure, with no interest in any sort of institutional integrity.
How can Cornell claim to “value free and open inquiry and expression—tenets that underlie academic freedom—even of ideas some may consider wrong or offensive” if it so easily allows university policy to be dragged around by politicized media pressure? If Cornell is going to allow itself to be governed by demands from an outrage mob, why should it be considered an “elite” institution of higher learning at all?
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
