We Cannot Accept Failure

by Errington C. Thompson, MD –

In 2024, a young woman left her dorm room at Cornell.

She had already been drinking, and it’s my understanding that the dorm mother was not supposed to let anyone who was intoxicated leave the dorm. She went out and had drinks at a bar. It turns out she was underage and shouldn’t have been served there. She then left her friends and went to visit a friend at the Chi Phi fraternity house.

Upon arriving at the Chi Phi fraternity house, her friend offered her more alcohol. Somehow, she was given ketamine, a known medical hypnotic, and was sexually assaulted for hours by as many as seven men.

The only reason we know about this case is that the young woman, known as Jane Doe, has filed a civil lawsuit against Cornell University and the seven men who allegedly assaulted her.

Failure All Around

In my opinion, this case is about failure. Several guardrails are in place to prevent something like this from happening, yet they failed to do so. In violation of Cornell’s rules and regulations, this young woman was allowed to leave her dorm intoxicated. State laws prevent underage alcohol consumption, yet this woman was not carded. Even if you assume she was of age, she was clearly intoxicated and should not have been served any more alcohol.

She went to the bar with her “friends,” yet they let her walk alone to the Chi Phi fraternity house, even though she’d been drinking all day. This woman went to the Chi Phi fraternity house to see a “friend.” If this was truly a friend, that friend failed her, failed her spectacularly. The Chi Phi fraternity house seemed to have a group Snapchat in which members of the house were invited to have free sex with this inebriated, incapacitated woman.

After her assault, she petitioned Cornell University to drop out for the semester, and she wanted a refund on her tuition. Cornell University refused. Let that sink in for just a minute. Basically, Cornell was telling her that she had to stay in the same environment as her accused rapists for the next several months, pretending that nothing had happened.

What Investigation?

The Cornell University Police Department turned over whatever evidence it had obtained to Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten. Unfortunately, it does not appear that anyone in the district attorney’s office reviewed all the evidence. Instead, it seems they reviewed a six-page summary that left out many key details. The district attorney decided not to file charges. Now, two years later, he has decided to reopen the case and see whether it has any merit.

Again, let me reiterate, this is failure. This woman looked to our justice system to get some sort of remedy for this heinous act that was committed against her. It appears the district attorney did not take the time or effort to review all the evidence. This kind of egregious failure should lead to disbarment, don’t you think?

Failing Women, and Failing Men

I think this points to a bigger failure of our society: that for years, we have failed women. We have told women that they should not walk alone, that they need to take defense classes, that they should carry mace or pepper spray. We have told them not to dress provocatively.

Yet when you think about it, isn’t all of this backward? Shouldn’t we be telling men that we should not assault women? Shouldn’t we tell men that if we see an intoxicated, inebriated female, we shouldn’t think of her as free sex? Instead, we should think about ways to help this woman get home safely.

I’m looking at those 50 men in that Snapchat, and not one of them said, “This is wrong. We should stop this. What are we doing?” I understand that sometimes doing the right thing requires some bravery. I’m not sure how brave you have to be to tell your fellow frat brothers that they really should not rape or drug women. That seems pretty basic, doesn’t it?

I hope and pray that this woman gets justice. As most of you know, this case has blown up and is now being discussed all throughout the internet and on social media. Governor Kathy Hochul has gotten involved. She says she has lost confidence in the Tompkins County District Attorney and has appointed Letitia James, the State Attorney General, to investigate.

This is the part of the story I find a little ironic, if that is the right word. Now, in New York State, you have a female governor and a female state attorney general. Probably for the first time in the state’s history, a woman doesn’t have to answer to men. Hopefully, this will help her get justice.

Iran – More Failure

I am not going to blame Donald Trump for an assault that took place on the campus of Cornell University. I will say that Donald Trump has made testosterone-filled misogynistic rants more acceptable, and that’s not good for men, women, or the country. I will blame Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth for starting a war in the Middle East with no clear goals and no exit strategy. This is a clear failure of leadership.

The average price of gas in the United States was $2.94 back in February of 2026. Currently, the average price of gas is approximately $4.35 per gallon. This is because of our war with Iran. Period. No other reason.

Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, choking off oil supplies. Iran has also targeted the oil fields in Bahrain and several other Arab states, driving up the price of gas. Don’t tell me that this isn’t Donald Trump’s fault, because it is. He decided to go to war with Iran. He did not think through the consequences, and we’re all suffering because of it. What is that old saying? “Failure to plan means you’re planning to fail.”

Political Failure

We, the citizens of the United States, elected officials to Congress. We elected them to represent us. We did not elect them to abrogate their job as congressmen and women. So if you’re living in western North Carolina, you can still see the effects of the horrible Hurricane Helene.

Here’s the question: Are our representatives fighting for us? Every day? Are they constantly asking the Trump administration for more aid so we can rebuild quickly and efficiently, or have they forgotten us?

I don’t understand how any of our representatives voted to take away healthcare from millions of Americans. How are we supposed to pay for healthcare? Are we all supposed to get a GoFundMe page? Even if you think healthcare is too expensive, as a Congressperson, you need to find a solution that lowers costs and helps more Americans afford healthcare. Healthcare is a basic right.

AI Failure

A couple of weeks ago, Donald Trump held a summit at the White House where CEOs of AI companies sat down to chat. It was all friendly. Everyone was smiling, and by the end of the day, they decided we didn’t need any rules or regulations for artificial intelligence. Instead, we’re going to let the industry police itself. Well, isn’t that just hunky dory?

What if, sixty years ago, we had decided to let the auto industry police itself? If we’d done that, we wouldn’t have seat belts, safety glass, or anti-lock brakes, because the auto industry fought each of these groundbreaking safety measures, which today save lives.

Now, every day, we read in The New York Times or The Washington Post that AI has done something it wasn’t supposed to do: break into a website, try to break into the Pentagon, or break into a competitor’s system. All of this has happened within the last several months. If you listen to Bill Gates, former CEO of Microsoft—someone who should know something about artificial intelligence—he’s worried that artificial intelligence could help someone develop a bioweapon.

What the heck? This is a political failure. We need regulation to protect us from this technology. Yes, AI can be helpful, but it can also be very harmful. An AI platform helped an American, after several chats, commit suicide!

Suppose, just for a second, that we “overregulate” the AI industry. What harm has that done? That means that they can’t make as much profit, and that they may not be able to grow as fast as they would like. If that’s the trade-off between developing a bioweapon and not, I’ll take it every day, wouldn’t you?

Elections

The November elections are upon us. Endless ridiculous ads make it almost impossible to watch television these days. We need to understand whom we’re voting for. We need to do our homework, and we’ve got several weeks before the election to do our homework.

Find somebody who shares your values. You’re not looking for the perfect candidate. You’re looking for a candidate who speaks a language close to yours, walks a similar path, and will fight for the same things you want them to fight for. You also want a politician who will listen to you and may change their mind as circumstances and new evidence change. You don’t want the perfect candidate, because that candidate does not exist.

This may be the most important election of my lifetime. Let’s vote! Have a voting plan. Let’s NOT sit this one out. See you at the polls.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed here, as well as assertions of facts, are those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of The Urban News.