The controversy surrounding the “Cornell 7” took another turn after new details emerged about one of the students accused in the 2024 case.
Jonathan Newell, who was previously expelled from New York university following its Title IX investigation, had enrolled at another establishment in Florida earlier this year.
But his attempt to move on from the scandal reportedly stalled when the allegations resurfaced through a new civil lawsuit.
Highlights
- Jonathan Newell enrolled in a new university and was asked to stay away after complaints from concerned parents.
- Newell had previously been expelled from Cornell following its Title IX investigation.
- The seven accused men have not faced criminal charges and have denied wrongdoing.
Now, the litigation, coupled with another disturbing development involving other fraternity members has put Newell back in the spotlight and raised fresh questions about what happened that night.
Jonathan Newell was reportedly removed from another college campus
The 21-year-old had enrolled at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after leaving Cornell.
However, the Daily Mail reported that he was ordered to stay away from NSU property after concerned parents filed complaints.
The university did not name Newell in its public statement.
Still, President Harry Moon confirmed that the school had taken steps to safeguard students after learning about allegations involving a student who had transferred there.
“We are all concerned about reports of serious allegations of s**ual ab*se that occurred approximately two years ago at another university and may involve a student who later transferred to NSU,” Moon wrote in a statement on October 5.
He added that the university had acted “immediately” after learning about the reported incident and said NSU was not aware of the allegations when the student enrolled.
The university also said it was not aware of any current threat to its campus community.
The new attention on Newell comes from allegations connected to the night of October 19, 2024
Jane Doe, identified in the civil lawsuit as the alleged victim, accused seven Chi Phi fraternity members of s**ually a**aulting her at their Ithaca, New York, house after she had consumed dr*gs and alc*hol.
Newell was accused of being among the first men to s**ually as**ult Doe. The lawsuit also alleged that he sent a Snapchat message to the fraternity's group chat inviting other members upstairs.
The message reportedly read, “free p***y upstairs.”
The group reportedly included dozens of fraternity members, meaning the messages could have alerted a much larger group to what was happening inside the room.
Earlier reports from CBS News New York revealed additional messages from the fraternity group chat, including one member asking, “Shop still open?”
Others reportedly replied, “Yeah.”
The messages were presented in the civil lawsuit as evidence that other fraternity members knew Doe was there while the alleged encounter was still happening.
A separate exchange between Doe and one of the accused men also surfaced.
Two days after the alleged incident, the man reportedly apologized for “how things went down” and said his memory of the night was “kinda fuzzy.”
He also acknowledged that he and another person should have intervened and “shut it down and kick[ed] people out before it got way out of hand.”
Doe's attorney, Thomas P. Giuffra, later argued that she was traumatized and was trying to understand what had happened while maintaining a non-confrontational tone.
The university interviewed the accused men as well as Doe and other witnesses
Cornell's Title IX office investigated the allegations in 2024.
Several of the men acknowledged some form of intimate contact with Doe but maintained that it was consensual. Others denied taking part in any intimate activity.
One of them, Scott Norris, said he had seen the Snapchat message but initially believed it was “crude humor.” He claimed Doe appeared conversational when he briefly entered the room.
Scott Kretzschmar similarly said he was “befuddled” by the Snapchat message and went upstairs to see what was happening. He claimed Doe did not appear too intoxicated and said he asked whether she was okay.
Matthew Ingalls, meanwhile, told investigators that he was too intoxicated to consent and portrayed himself as a victim of the encounter. A later recorded phone call between Ingalls and Doe also captured conflicting accounts of how the night unfolded.
The original criminal investigation ended without charges against the seven men
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said Doe's original account to police differed substantially from the allegations made in her later civil lawsuit.
According to him, her initial statement described her dr*g and alc*hol use and intimate activity as voluntary and consensual.
Doe's attorney strongly disputed that characterization and argued that investigators failed to properly follow up on important evidence, including the fraternity group chat.
“I believe that opportunities to fully investigate these crimes were lost,” Giuffra said.
The case changed after Doe filed her civil lawsuit in September 2026.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul subsequently appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to conduct a fresh criminal investigation.
The new investigation will now determine whether additional evidence changes the conclusions reached in 2024.
Meanwhile, the newly revealed Snapchat messages have kept the focus on what fraternity members allegedly knew of that night and how they responded.
"Justice for Jane Doe," a reader wrote
