The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Who’s Actually Guilty in the Cornell 7 Case?

Episode Date: October 5, 2026

The Cornell 7 case has sparked national outrage against the young “Jane Doe,” the seven accused fraternity brothers, and the larger group chat of men who did nothing to stop the alleged rape. But who is guilty when all parties are intoxicated and willing? Perhaps the root of the problem is not a legal one. While debates rage over consent, delayed reporting, and prosecutorial standards, Hanson zeroes in on a simpler, more troubling failure: not one person in that fraternity had the courage to say "this is wrong." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Daily Signal podcast, where we provide intelligence for the intelligent. Now, without further ado, here's today's take. Calculating route to avoid seeing poverty. Turn left to bypass the unhoused youth sleeping on the street. Then keep right to skip by the lines of people waiting for food. Steer clear of the crowded shelter turning people away, then take the next exit. Let's stop looking away and get in the way of rising poverty. Your donations help the United Way fight poverty in thousands of ways,

like providing food, shelter, and crisis prevention. Donate today at United WayGT.org. There's been quite a controversy. It's sweeping the country, maybe the world. I think it's called the Cornell 7. There was a young woman in 2024 who went to a bar with some people underage, and she became intoxicated. At that point, the boy that was accompanying him,

or maybe others, invited her to a frat party. She goes in there and is invited up to a room, and at that point, everything started to spiral downhill. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for the Daily Signal. There's been quite a controversy. It's sweeping the country, maybe the world, about Cornell University, and I think it's called the Cornell seven. I don't know if that implies sympathy or fewer at them to make them the sinner. But there was a

young woman in 24, 20 years old, still unidentified, who went to a bar with some people under age. She was 20, drinking age was 21, and she became intoxicated. At that point, the boy that was accompanied him, or maybe others, invited her to a frat party. Well, that should have given a signal. Anybody in their right mind knows that young people at a frat party with a lot of frisky boys that feel entitled, you have to be very careful. She goes in there and is invited up to a room. At that point, she might have, if she had been sober, made a decision. I might have, if she had been sober, made a decision. going to be alone with this boy? And then that's a question of two consenting adults, whether to have sexual Congress. But as soon as she got up there, he invited another person to partake

in the sexuality. And apparently he did. And at that point, everything started to spiral downhill. There were five others that came and went, and I can't repeat exactly what ensued, because I think this is a family-oriented video. But five more people either directly came into the room and had relations with her, or they videoed her, or they sat and watched. It's hard to know exactly what each of the seven did, but when it was all over, she left. She was completely drunk, sick. She went back. And then she felt something had happened. She talked to friends. She had text exchanges with the boy who invited her.

And let's just say that for the next six or seven or eight months, she didn't quite think that she had been raped. She felt pressures that people were not going to like her, they wouldn't invite her to another party, that they were calling her, I would call her, I would call her. I don't know what the bad words were, but we'll just say slut-ish, and her reputation was being damaged, and she really hadn't quite processed what was going on. After she left Cornell, almost a year later, she filed a complaint with authorities saying that she had been physically

raped and named the boys who did it. Outrage followed when they read exactly the details of what had happened on the part of the men. And then they wanted to know, in a legalistic sense, why Cornell or why the local DA hadn't gone before a grand jury and had had them all indicted. And of course, they had to follow New York law. In a legalistic, and I say isistic, because I'm not sure it's really the right word legal. In a legalistic sense, if you are a person, an adult, usually over the age of consent, or 18, and you see another adult, and you're able to answer, do you want to go up to my room? Yes, no. And people say you're functioning. And when you go up there and you have sexual relations, and later within a certain time period,

you do not characterize it as rape, the DA usually says, I don't think I can win that case and doesn't prosecute. But as the months wore on and the details came out about these boys, some of them actually texted, I can't repeat it on the world, but basically there is free blank here come on over. She filed. There is all of this anger now. a lot of, it's not male-female.

Brilliant women like Camilla Palli said, Pallia, we said we have to stop babing girls. These are women. They're not little girls. If they're of age and they choose to drink, even if they're breaking the law when they do, and they go into a den of frisky boys who are ill-mannered, and they go up to one room.

At some point, they have a lot of avenues before they're incoherent to stop it. And afterwards, if they do not immediately say they were raped or assaulted, then what do you expect? Other people say, well, it doesn't really matter when she realized that she was raped. Maybe she was traumatized, et cetera. So that's where it is. But I have a different take on it, and I'll finish with that. It's not so much for me a legal avenue, a legal question. It's a moral or ethical one.

What were these boys thinking? What were you thinking that you see an attractive girl? She's drunk. She goes up with one of her liaisons, her partner. They go into a room, and then they apparently have sex, maybe with another person. At that point, didn't you think this is bizarre? This girl is consenting. Would she have done that if she wasn't drunk or drinking?

And then what were the other five boys? Why would you video that? would you join in that? Why would you mock her? Why would you put on the text? I'm not saying that any of this was illegal. But my God, where was the decency? Wasn't there one person? Just one? And that whole fraternity that said, this is outrageous. This is sick. And I'm going to stop it. And even if she objected, wouldn't you see one person would go up to her and say, please, I think you're drinking. And when you go up to that room, things will happen that you don't want to happen. And even if she said, I'm an adult, I can go, then you could monitor the situation. Go up there yourself and tell everybody.

This woman is not capable of making informed decisions as she would be if she was with other women and sober. She's now in a room by herself with other men and she's intoxicated. And we have people texting that it's a chance to have free or easy sex. with her. This is sick. It's going to destroy this fraternity. I'm going to stop it. So we were looking for just one honest, wise, brave person in that fraternity. He may have existed, but we haven't heard of him yet. So yes, she should have filed rape charges immediately. Yes, she should have never got drunk in the first place under age. That's against the law. She should have never been so naive to go over with her, I don't even want what you would call this guy. He seems to be either inapt or weak or pernicious. I don't know what. But he accompanies her into this den of horrors. I mean, H-O-R-R-R-S, horrific things. And then, yes, as soon as she'd saw that other people, as soon as somebody said, would you like a threesome, she should have said no, because that could invite even more catastrophes. But she didn't. But I don't. But I don't.

On the other hand, she's one, and she's a woman, and she's intoxicated, and the other people are strong men, and there's a lot of them, and it would just take one to stop this evil thing from happening, and none did. In the old days, I think women had family support, so maybe a brother or a cousin or a father would have heard of it and said, I'm going to go talk to these people, or he would sit down. down with his daughter and say, you are on a very liberal freewheeling campus and be careful about these people. They may smile at you, but human nature being what it is, don't set foot. That would be wise advice. But we don't live in the old days where men protected women that's considered chauvinistic and patronizing.

But it does require men to be better than men, to be better than that. So my final conclusion about the entire foul escapade is, we in America wanted the boys to be better than they were. I'm not saying that that meant that they're guilty of, in the legal sense of rape. I don't have the evidence of the knowledge to do that. But I do know enough about the case that they should be ashamed of themselves because not one stopped it. Thank you very much.

This is Victor Davis-Hansson for The Daily Secret. A disturbing curriculum is being used in hundreds of schools around the country, and many parents don't even know. It's called rights, respect, and responsibility, or the three R's. But behind those simple words are lessons with graphic depictions of naked children, requiring young children to name and identify genitalia. This isn't a health curriculum. It's extremely explicit sex ed material pushed on kids as young as. five and parents who are sounding the alarm on it in one state report that their school district has been ignoring them. Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom are gathering 100,000 signatures

on a petition to get this program out of schools and to protect parents' right to direct their kids' education. Sign the petition by texting Hanson to 8388-8-48 or visit join adf.com slash Hansen. That's Hansen to 8388 or visit join ADF.com slash Hansen. Thank you for tuning in to the daily signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at victorhansen.com and subscribe for exclusive features in addition. Calculating route to avoid seeing poverty. Turn left. to bypass the unhoused youth sleeping on the street,

then keep right to skip by the lines of people waiting for food. Steer clear of the crowded shelter turning people away, then take the next exit. Let's stop looking away and get in the way of rising poverty. Your donations help the United Way fight poverty in thousands of ways, like providing food, shelter, and crisis prevention. Donate today at United WayGT.org.