A former Cornell University student reportedly has an unusual plan for his next chapter after being expelled from the Ivy League school.
Matthew Ingalls allegedly told friends he wanted to head to Thailand for a gap year to “find himself.”
But his reported plans have drawn attention for another reason, as details about his family and his father’s career as a university professor have also emerged.
Highlights
- Matthew Ingalls reportedly told friends he planned to spend a gap year in Thailand after leaving Cornell.
- His father is an academic who has held teaching positions at several universities.
- Ingalls was expelled after Cornell’s Title IX investigation.
Ingalls was one of seven men accused of s*xually a**aulting a fellow student at a fraternity party in 2024.
He was later expelled following a university investigation.
A Cornell 7 student reportedly planned to spend a gap year in Thailand after being expelled from Cornell University
According to the Daily Mail, Ingalls told friends in Dubai that he planned to travel to Thailand for a gap year after leaving Cornell University.
The report came as questions emerged about his whereabouts.
A former neighbor told the publication that they believed Ingalls had returned to the Middle East to join his father. However, this has not been independently confirmed.
Ingalls, whose full name is Umar Matthew Ingalls, grew up between the United States and the United Arab Emirates. His family has lived in Dubai, where his father has worked in academia.
The younger Ingalls attended an elite private school in Dubai before moving to the United States to study at Cornell. He secured admission to the Ivy League university in 2023, where he studied mathematics and economics.
He also joined Chi Phi, one of America's oldest fraternities, and played on Cornell's rugby team.
His plans after Cornell became a subject of public interest following allegations made against him and six other fraternity members in a civil lawsuit.
Moreover, Ingalls’ father was revealed to have a career in academia
According to the Daily Mail, the Yale-educated professor has taught courses on Sharia law, Islam in America, and Islamic fundamentalism.
His academic career has included teaching positions at Yale University, the University of Puget Sound in Washington state, and the American University in Cairo, Egypt.
He has also given lectures outside university classrooms. In 2014, he spoke to female inmates at the Washington Corrections Center for Women.
His current position has been listed as associate professor and chair of the Department of International and Middle Eastern Studies at the American University in Dubai. The outlet reported that his photograph and contact details disappeared from the university’s website during the recent controversy.
The publication said it contacted him for comment but received no response.
Ingalls’ mother, Yasmine Khattab, works as an Arabic and English language tutor and wellness coach, according to the report.
Matthew Ingalls was expelled from Cornell after mistreating a female student
Ingalls was one of seven Chi Phi fraternity members accused of s**ually a**aulting a female student during a party on October 19, 2024.
The woman, identified as Jane Doe in court documents, filed a civil lawsuit alleging that Ingalls invited her to the fraternity house when she was already heavily intoxicated. She claimed he proposed a thre**ome with fellow fraternity member Jonathan Newell.
According to the lawsuit, she was pressured to take ke**mine and was also given marijuana and a**ohol.
She alleged that the encounter became non-consensual and that other fraternity members later joined the alleged a**ault.
The complaint described events that allegedly continued for several hours. All seven defendants have denied wrongdoing.
Ingalls and Newell were expelled after Cornell’s Title IX investigation found them responsible for s**ual a**ault, according to disciplinary summaries reviewed by The New York Times.
The investigation included more than 50 interviews, and Cornell permanently banned Chi Phi from campus.
The woman said the alleged incident left her so traumatized that she had to leave the university.
The allegations have also drawn attention because the woman’s account to investigators in 2024 reportedly differed from the claims in her later civil lawsuit
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten declined to bring criminal charges after the initial investigation. He said the woman’s original statement did not allege that she had been drugged against her will, rendered incapacitated, or forced into s*xual acts.
Ingalls also claimed during Cornell’s investigation that Jane Doe had s**ually a**aulted him while he was incapacitated. He raised the allegation in an email to the university, according to records ABC News reviewed.
Reported messages exchanged between the woman and some of the men in the days after the alleged incident have also entered the public discussion.
However, those messages do not, on their own, settle the consent dispute.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul later appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to conduct a fresh criminal investigation.
None of the seven men has faced criminal charges related to the allegations, and all have denied wrongdoing.
"Let his name and his deeds be known far and wide," wrote one netizen
