The window at Barton Hall at Cornell University.
The window at Barton Hall at Cornell University. Credit: eflon / Wikimedia Commons Credit: eflon / Wikimedia Commons

Content Warning: This story deals with issues of rape and sexual violence. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, call the Sexual Violence Helpline at 1-888-933-9007 or visit sexualviolencehelpline.ca

In September 2026, the world learned about an appalling crime alleged to have taken place at Cornell University: a young Jane Doe was raped by a group of men at the University in 2024. 

The accused students are now referred to as the Cornell seven. These fraternity brothers allegedly decided to rape a woman who had been drugged. What is even more alarming is that the young men publicized the plan to rape Jane Doe on a group chat with 57 members. And while not everyone took up the offer to participate in the group sexual assault, not one young man called the police to save the victim at the time.

Obviously, what Cornell’s Jane Doe alleges to have endured is horrific. There is a place for robust discussions about whether Cornell’s reaction has been sufficient; however, what I want Canadians to remember right now is this: sexual assault on university campuses is not merely an American problem, it happens right here, north of the 49th Parallel.

According to Statistics Canada, 11 per cent of women will be sexually assaulted while attending post-secondary school. The total is much lower (but still frightening) for men, at four per cent. As the numbers prove, rape culture on Canada’s campuses is a serious issue. 

Perhaps the most horrifying example in recent history concerned Western University’s 2021 Orientation Week. According to information circulating on social media, approximately 30 young women may have been drugged at Western University’s Orientation Week in 2021. No formal charges resulted, but thousands of Western University’s students walked out of class to protest a culture of sexual violence on campus. Admittedly, commissioned inquiries, but campus rape has not been solved.

Here’s one structural barrier to true progress where sexual assault on campus is concerned: Canada’s federal government still has no unified strategy for how we should tackle the epidemic of sexual assault on campus. Sure, it funds our universities to the tune of billions a year (as it should), but it has not committed to creating a future where all students feel equally safe on campus. 

In addition to the PTSD and physical injuries sexual assault can cause, research published by Lana Stermac et al. in The Canadian Journal of Higher Education found that experiencing sexual violence has adverse academic outcomes, including deteriorating grades, missing classes, or having thoughts of dropping out of school altogether. Not only does this epidemic of Campus Rape impact victims’ mental and physical health, but it robs them of their academic potential.

Over the past several days, many progressive folks I know have expressed outrage that one of the key ways the school administration dealt with Jane Doe’s assault was to force the Cornell seven to write essays reflecting on their actions. In my personal experience with on-campus sexual violence, such outcomes usually happen out of concern for the male perpetrators’ bright futures. After all, who wants to derail a young man’s plans to work in private equity or real estate law? What if their lives are destroyed by the one time they committed a gang rape? In response, let me scream, “misogyny” at the top of my lungs. The research on academic attainment of sexual assault survivors shows their lives are already derailed by these crimes. Why do we live in a world where the innocent party is disproportionately likely to face the consequences of sexual assault? You’ll never convince me the reason isn’t rampant sexism. And the answer to sexism – in the US, as in Canada – is for all of us to point it out and oppose its corrosive impacts.

So, if you’re mad about what happened at Cornell, please get mad on behalf of Canadian students also. Email your MPs, demand a federal strategy and funding that is specifically earmarked for addressing on-campus sexual assault. Otherwise, we may all as well start saving for a lifetime of therapy bills alongside our daughters’ RESPs.