Cornell texts show student discussing rumours with fraternity member amid rape allegations
Newly published text messages show Cornell student “Jane Doe” discussing campus rumours with one of the seven fraternity members she later accused of gang-rape. The messages may offer context about their contact after the encounter, but do not establish whether it was consensual or resolve the allegations.
Doe’s civil lawsuit says she was drugged and sexually assaulted at a Chi Phi fraternity party in October 2024, after initially agreeing to a threesome. The seven men, including Matthew Ingalls, deny the claims and say the sexual activity was consensual; none has been charged. In the texts, Doe worried about rumours and her reputation, while Ingalls offered reassurance and helped her try to identify who had spread the story.
- Messages show Doe and Ingalls discussing campus gossip after the encounter.
- Doe alleges seven fraternity members drugged and assaulted her.
- All seven deny the allegations, and none has been charged.
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A Cornell University student has accused seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity of gang-raping her at a party in October 2024. She claims she was drugged and sexually assaulted, although she had initially agreed to a threesome with some of the men. The seven men deny all allegations and say the sexual activity was entirely consensual; none has been charged with any crime.
The student, identified in court documents as "Jane Doe", is pursuing a civil lawsuit against the men, including one named Matthew Ingalls. Text messages between Doe and Ingalls, newly published as part of the legal proceedings, show them discussing rumours about the incident in the days and weeks afterwards. In the messages, Doe expressed worry about her reputation whilst Ingalls offered reassurance and tried to help her identify who had spread stories about what occurred.
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The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
These messages reveal an apparent inconsistency in the accuser's account. If Doe was drugged and gang-raped, one would expect distress and avoidance of her attackers; instead, she engaged in friendly, casual communication with one of the accused, discussing reputation concerns and asking for his help addressing rumours. This normalcy of contact appears difficult to reconcile with an allegation of non-consensual assault, suggesting the encounter may have been consensual or experienced quite differently than claimed. Whilst the texts do not definitively prove consent, they present behavioural evidence that undermines the credibility of the gang-rape narrative.
The case against
Post-traumatic responses are highly variable and often counterintuitive; assault survivors frequently communicate normally after attacks as part of psychological coping, normalisation, or because trauma and drug-induced impairment obscured their ability to comprehend what happened. These isolated messages reveal nothing about the actual events at the party—whether Doe was genuinely incapacitated, whether she could meaningfully consent, or what acts were committed. The focus on post-incident social behaviour misrepresents how consent functions and dangerously conflates normal communication patterns with consent itself, whilst overlooking that trauma survivors sometimes maintain contact with assailants for complex psychological reasons.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Cornell Jane Doe texted student she later accused of gang-rape to try and identify campus gossips, telling him ‘I love you king’ as they claim everyone was ‘jealous’ of them”.