Mia Lasic-Ellis

Cornell, Cornell, Cornell. Whenever I open my Instagram, it’s always something new about Cornell University’s institutional coverup of the Jane Doe rape case. In true Instagram fashion, the public outcry has visual consistencies to activist movements of the past. Colorful infographics with snazzy taglines like, “silence is violence,” official statements from people of interest denouncing such horrible acts and tons of other content meant to bring awareness to the situation while shaming the participants. As someone who has been on socials for almost a decade, this campaign was similar to others that I’d participated in in the past (BLM, MeToo, etc). What is strange, dear reader, is that after seeing this recent slew of content expressing disbelief that such a crime could go unchecked, I became perplexed.

I’m perplexed because, sadly, this is the least surprising story in existence. “Breaking News! Male College Student Rapes Woman and Is Not Held Accountable!” In my mind, that’s the most precedented thing ever. That’s like waking up to a tagline saying, “Breaking News! Privileged Person Takes Advantage of Non-Privileged Person and is Not Held Accountable.” Like, yeah? This hit twice as hard because I, like many people reading this, know survivors of sexual assault on Bowdoin’s campus. Because of this, we know what the college’s “due process” looks like and how it usually leaves survivors feeling dismissed. After four years of seeing Jane Doe’s at Bowdoin, why are we surprised that they exist at Cornell, Colby, Caltech and more?

Not only am I perplexed at the collective shock and awe of this “anomaly,” I’m also (sadly) disappointed at the predictable response. Again, I’ve been on the front lines of the Instagram wars. In 2020, I was posting similar content non-stop about police brutality. In 2024? I was throwing endless shade at Trump before the elections—memes, charts, quotes, literally everything. Fast forward to 2026, and let’s look around: Society seems unconcerned with racism, and Trump is the President. This is not to say that activism on social media is futile! However, I learned that my voice, although I had pure intentions, fell on deaf ears. Because of those experiences, I learned how damaging defending my own existence to nameless users could be for my own well-being. I learned how picking up the sword in an Instagram comment section always left me morose because I wasted my time and my spirit on people who took pleasure in my pain. There was no education occurring on either side of the aisle, only a constant vitriol which padded the wallet of Mark Zuckerberg.

I don’t say this to discourage any further discourse, but rather to have more substantive conversations instead of frustrating ourselves with homunculus trolls on the internet. I’ve always believed that rape is a grave and terrible crime which should make the perpetrator a pariah. In reality though, we’ve all seen how rapists and their accomplices go unchecked by the law and society. I remember during my time on campus that some people would earn the nickname of “Title 9’er.” This carelessness and general disregard for the severity of sexual violence goes to show how rape has turned into a joke on college campuses. My hope is that one day, institutions put survivors first so that their experiences are not commodified and they can receive the education that they earned.

Neiman Mocombe is a member of the Class of 2026.