America's frat houses face calls to close as rape case anger swells

America's fraternity houses face calls to close after Cornell gang-rape allegation On a cool night on a suburban street in upstate New York, a red light glows from inside a towering spire atop a monstrous house. Red cups and crushed cider cans litter the property, which now stands as a symbol of a national reckoning at Cornell University's Ivy League campus. "Bro, look, I'm at the Chi Phi frat," a young man in trackpants says to a friend on FaceTime as he walks by. He passes a sign with Greek letters, stained from a recent egging. "I know bro. Creepy isn't it?" Once home to a fraternity dating back more than 150 years, the property now sits dormant. But it has come to international prominence because of explosive gang-rape allegations against seven of its former residents. In an upstairs bedroom, a former student alleges she was drugged and raped for seven hours in 2024, when she was 20. The fact the alleged rape took place at one of America's most elite universities — and allegedly involved seven privileged young men — has ignited a firestorm of debate that has led to calls for fraternities to be banned. 'Greek life' under a spotlight Fraternities are exclusive social clubs for male undergraduate students who typically reside on campus. Cornell is home to more than 50 fraternities and their female equivalent, sororities. About a third of the university's undergraduates students are part of fraternity or sorority culture, known as "Greek life". But some students are now protesting the fraternities' existence. At recent campus demonstrations, "ban the frats" was a popular chant. "There are frats that can be very positive with upstanding people, but that's fighting against the current," student Lewis Holland told the ABC at a protest this week. "The only way to fix that problem is to get rid of all of them." The North American Interfraternity Conference, which represents dozens of the country's largest fraternities, says they can provide a sense of belonging and lifelong friendships, while helping students develop accountability and leadership skills. Fraternities are largely self-governing, with chapters typically run by elected student members, leaving much of the responsibility for discipline and accountability in the hands of students and their national organisations. Lewis says that is part of the problem. "From the moment these guys get there, they're taught to disrespect women and that becomes endemic,"he said. "They see women as conquests, with this association between sexual degradation and masculine victory." College fraternities have produced some of America's most powerful men, including presidents, members of Congress, top judges and business leaders. Critics like Lewis argue some frat brothers carry the culture of misogyny learned at fraternities into positions of power. "You see why the Epstein list is so long, you see why there are so many sex scandals from our politics," he said. "It's a cause and effect." Loading...'Bro code' engenders 'himpathy' A 2026 report by a Cornell task force said 52 per cent of undergraduate women affiliated with a sorority had reported experiencing sexual assault. More than 1,200 incidents of sexual assault, dating and domestic violence and stalking were reported to Cornell between 2018 and 2024, according to USA Today, citing data reported to New York state. Fourteen resulted in suspensions and seven in expulsion or dismissal. One of the leading voices now calling for the closure of fraternities is Melbourne-born academic Kate Manne, an expert in feminist philosophy who has been teaching at Cornell for 13 years. She describes fraternities as a "hotbed of misogyny and sexual assault". "There is a very strong code that exists there that says if one man does something illegal or immoral, you just participate," she said during an interview in her campus office. "You don't say anything and you don't call it out. Maybe you even ratchet it up." That "bro code", she said, amounted to a culture of impunity that was reinforced with what she calls "himpathy" — "sympathy and loyalty for the male perpetrator over the female victim". Raging debate In the college town of Ithaca, a network of cul-de-sacs lined with sororities and fraternities surround the sprawling Cornell campus. Some are dilapidated grand homes with battered couches and beer pong tables. Others are gleaming three-storey estates with chandeliers suspended from high ceilings. When we visit, one young man exits a frat house in trackpants and heads for a nearby BMW. Another leaves in a backwards cap, driving over manicured grass before speeding off in a Range Rover. We doorknocked some of the fraternity houses and spoke to several students in a bid to hear from members of Cornell's fraternities. But many were wary of speaking with media. "Sorry, I can't with my job," one fraternity member told us, a look of terror flashing across his face at the request. But online, fierce debate is raging — not only over the alleged gang rape, but also the bystander culture that may have allowed it to happen. Widely shared screenshots from a group chat, purportedly from the night of the alleged rape, include messages where men described an "open shop" and invited others upstairs to "whip it out". Court documents say none of the 57 men in the chat intervened as the alleged rape took place. That evidence has sparked a reckoning that extends beyond current fraternity members to alumni. In one viral video, a former University of Oregon student recounts how frat brothers across the hall from him would regularly have threesomes with intoxicated women. He never asked questions. "I was ignoring that icky gut feeling, that moral compass, because everyone else was acting like it was fine," said the video's creator, Pavan, who asked that his surname not be shared. He told the ABC he had since wrestled with his own complicity in possible sexual violence by staying silent. "I have lived with guilt for 15 years,"he said. "A lot of young men are raised to believe that sexual assault is binary — you are either a rapist or you're not. "But there's an entire spectrum of sexual assault that we are all complicit in to some degree." 'Serious look' at fraternities Pavan stressed that fraternities were not monolithic and could offer men an important opportunity for connection and community in a time when male loneliness is on the rise. But Dr Manne argued the dangers of fraternities far outweighed the benefits. "Whatever value they might have is completely eclipsed by the harm," she said, not just to women but also to the men who join them. She believes the case — along with simmering anger over stalled accountability on the Epstein files and a series of roll-backs to women's reproductive rights — is now sparking a "second wave" of the MeToo movement, 20 years after it began. With a civil lawsuit filed last month over the gang-rape allegation, and a new criminal investigation underway, the debate about campus culture and the future of fraternities is set to remain in the spotlight. In a video message last week, Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff pledged the university would take a "serious look" at fraternities. He has also agreed to an independent review into how the university handled the allegations. All seven men accused of rape have denied wrongdoing, and none have been charged. With Lia Walsh in Ithaca, New York