Bill Maher Calls for Abolition of Fraternities Following Cornell Allegations
The television host cited the Cornell 7 gang rape lawsuit as justification for his stance on 'Real Time with Bill Maher.'
Television host Bill Maher has called for the abolition of all fraternities, citing the alleged gang rape incident at Cornell University involving seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity. Maher, an alumnus of Cornell, made the remarks on his show "Real Time with Bill Maher" on Friday evening.
He stated that all-male organizations inherently foster depravity, drawing parallels to the Catholic Church and the Taliban. "Human nature is bad, and the best we can do is create institutions that don't make it so easy to be worse. And a great place to start would be getting rid of 'Greek life'," Maher said.
Maher listed numerous negative aspects he associates with fraternities, including increased drinking, cruelty, mistreatment of women, tribalism, peer pressure, conformity, segregation, nepotism, bullying, elitism, and hypocrisy.
The comments come in the wake of a lawsuit filed by a student, identified as Jane Doe, who alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted by seven Chi Phi fraternity members on October 19, 2024. The accused, Umar Matthew Ingalls, Jonathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris, and Scott Kretzschmar, have denied the allegations and have not been charged with any crimes.
Maher specifically addressed the allegations, stating, "well, in this current Jane Doe case, a young woman made a bad decision - as 20-year-olds do - when she went to a frat house drunk and did ketamine, and for that, she claims to have paid a price no woman should have to pay." He added that a gentleman would not exploit a vulnerable woman in such a situation. His guest, Republican North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, applauded Maher's remarks.
The lawsuit was filed about a month after Jane Doe first reported the allegations in 2024. An initial investigation by the Tompkins County District Attorney's office did not result in charges. However, the case has since been reopened, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor.
Recently surfaced text messages, shared by TMZ, allegedly show Jane Doe downplaying the incident in communications with Ingalls and Newell. According to the lawsuit, Ingalls invited Doe to the fraternity house and suggested a threesome with Newell. Doe alleges she was then offered alcohol and ketamine, after which Newell reportedly sent a Snapchat message to approximately 50 fraternity members stating "free p****." The lawsuit claims other fraternity members then entered the room and assaulted her while she was incapacitated.
Doe's attorney, Thomas Giuffra, told the Daily Mail that his client maintains her allegations and that the text messages do not indicate consent. Giuffra argued that Doe exhibited "classic symptoms of delayed recognition" regarding the gravity of the incident, a phenomenon he stated is widely reported in medical and psychological literature, suggesting that most rape survivors do not immediately identify what happened to them as rape.
