09/29/26

Title

That Was the End of the Consent

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, September 29th.

National Coffee Day

Well that’s fun! Very eye-opening. (Nailed it)

And now, the news.

Cornell

-via NY Times, Cornell Sun, ABC News, and NPR

I’m starting with the Cornell story, which deals with a sexual assault. If you don’t want to hear that story, please feel free to skip this episode and just know that I’m proud of you for taking care of yourself.

If you’re unfamiliar, it’s by design. It really only began being talked about on Monday (and I responsible for this too. I should have covered it earlier).

But in 2024, a 20-year-old Cornell student known publicly as Jane Doe says she attended a party at a frat house on October 19th. At that party, she was given drinks and drugs and then raped by seven young men.

Seven.

In November, when she was ready, she went to the police and filed a report.

In the report, she does say she consented to some acts but not all. She talks about her level of intoxication being a 5 out of 10 when she got to the party, and it grew from there.

Under New York State law, every sexual assault offense requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the act was committed without consent. Here, that lack of consent comes from 1) forcible compulsion, 2) mental incapacitation of the victim, 3) physical helplessness of the victim, or 4) the victim clearly saying she didn’t want to have sex.

When she arrived at the party that night, she was approached by two men who asked her to have a threesome. That was what she consented to.

You can feel however you want about what she consented to that night, but when it changed and she said no, that was the end of the consent.

That is how consent works. You can consent to one thing, but it’s not an umbrella. A yes to one thing is not a yes to everything.

The Tompkins County district attorney said he felt like Jane Doe’s statement ended with her not wanting to press charges.

Well I don’t know man. She went to the police and told them about a horrific crime. What do you think she wanted? Just to tell a stranger this deeply personal and awful thing? Or do you think maybe she wanted to press charges? Now that the story is in the news, the DA says he’ll let a grand jury decide.

By the way, after giving her statement to the police, she says she was never contacted again.

The DA also says that, at no point, did Jane Doe say she didn’t want to have sex.

In her statement, she literally says that at one point one of the guys was in the room and asked if they could make it a foursome, and she said “hell no.”

She says a group of men then entered the room, and she hid under the covers. They grabbed her face to kiss her, and she pushed them away.

Appallingly, New York law doesn’t define rape as a person who is subjected to unwanted sex while voluntarily intoxicated unless they are fully unconscious at the time of the assault.

So the fact that she was clearly very drunk and then continued to be plied with drugs… that itself is fine with the law.

But again – she said no. Saying yes to one thing is not the same as saying yes to everything.

The woman dropped out of Cornell.

Now, what happened to these seven men?

Cornell has not been open about that. Nor have they been open about what their own investigation into that night showed. But one student was allowed back on campus because all seven were allowed to “mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell.”

Once people were like, “Whoa!! That’s not enough!!” Cornell added that they were “issued a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions.”

Again, the woman dropped out. That changes her entire educational and career path.

But don’t worry, some of the boys had to write letters. So… even/even.

Speaking of letters, in the note that the DA wrote saying they were reopening the case, he basically goes point by point into why he didn’t press charges the first time and the letter feels very… inappropriate.

And also, is crap. From the letter: Finally, there is no evidence in Jane Doe's statement indicating that she clearly expressed that she did not consent to the act. According to the statement, each time Jane Doe asked to stop the sexual conduct, the sexual conduct stopped. Thus, with no evidence of a ‘lack of consent,’ criminal charges simply could not be sustained.”

Okay well then… after she said no, it started again. So what’s that?

He says she wrote a 6-page statement… but the one that’s in his letter has been rewritten in third person and certainly isn’t 6 pages.

We’re taught to walk with our keys between our fingers, in case someone attacks us when we talk. Don’t take a walk at night. Don’t drink a drink you didn’t see made. Don’t keep your AirPods in when you hike. Don’t be nice to strangers, but don’t be too quiet either. Don’t be such a prude. Don’t be such a slut. Don’t wear something that shows your body. Don’t dress like you’re in a convent. Don’t complain that you’re not paid enough. Don’t complain that you’re paid the same amount but asked to do more work because the men just “aren’t good at that stuff.”

Don’t complain.

And when you’re sexually assaulted or harassed, as one in five women will be (the number is higher, though; we just don’t always report it, so it looks like one in five, but it's probably close to one in three or even one in two)… be perfect. Have done everything perfectly. And be able to tell a stranger about what happened to you in the perfect window of time. Too soon, and how can they be expected to believe you? Too late, and how can they be expected to believe you?

It’s very fun to be a woman.

Especially because just as I was about to hit record on this episode, here’s the headline the NY Times just fed me: “Trump Officials Revise Biden-Era Sex Discrimination Rules”

Not only are they rolling back protections for LGBTQ+ students, but Biden increased the range of sexual harassment complaints that schools would be responsible for investigating. This rolls that back too.

Under Trump 1.0, the definition of sex-based harassment was lowered, and schools were only required to investigate incidents reported on their campuses. The Biden rule required schools to investigate any allegation of sexual misconduct at school events or activities, whether or not the incident occurred on campus.

But Trump turned that back and now if, for example, the rape happens at a frat off campus? Under the change on Monday, that doesn’t need to be investigated.

Who benefits from this? The criminals.

Which makes sense because, again, Trump is in the Epstein files. He was best friends with a child sex trafficker. He’s been accused of various acts of sexual misconduct by at least 28 women. His own ex-wife says he raped her. He was found liable for sexual assault (though the judge said the only reason it’s not called rape is because the law says it can’t be, but the act itself constitutes as rape).

In the same way that he is a white supremacist, calling him a sexual assaulter is an evidence-based fact.

And on Monday, knowing, by the way, that this story was in the news, the Trump administration made life just a little easier for other sexual assaulters. Just like him.

And I can’t even be surprised. Nor can I be surprised that the announcement came from Education Secretary Linda McMahon – because the way a woman will hate other women, just for a man’s approval…

Trump wants people to vote like he’s on the ballot.

That’s what he’s been saying.

So do it. Remember this story. Remember your anger right now. And this about this, about him, about how the Republicans just let him do what he wants, when you cast your ballot this November.

435 House seats

35 Senate seats

And we’re coming for every single one of them.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

Honestly, I wasn’t intending to only talk about that but once I finished it felt like… well it felt like we could all use a break. So that’s the end of the episode.

I promise, tomorrow I’ll go back to the regular format where I cover more than one story.

But until then… I’m proud of you.