Long before the “Cornell Seven” allegations made national headlines, the Ivy League university was already facing accusations that it ignored warning signs about dangerous fraternity behavior. Years and several student tragedies later, Cornell’s latest answer is to suspend fraternity parties.
In fact, prior to Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff announcing restrictions on fraternity parties this week, another family was fighting the university in court, accusing administrators of ignoring warning signs before their 18-year-old son was shockingly found dead. And sadly, that wasn’t the first tragedy, either.
In a six-page court filing dated May 29, 2020, reviewed by Los Angeles, attorney David Bianchi, representing the parents of Cornell freshman Antonio Tsialas, laid out a disturbing series of allegations surrounding their son’s tragic death, following a fraternity event in October 2019. Tsialas was an exceptional athlete who was passionate about soccer and loved dearly by his family and friends.
Tsialas, just 18 years old, attended a Phi Kappa Psi party known as “Christmas in October” on October 24, 2019. According to the family’s lawsuit, 30 freshmen were picked up and driven to the fraternity house, where they were allegedly subjected to a series of drinking activities designed to pressure them into consuming large quantities of alcohol. Tsialas never made it safely back to his dormitory. His body was later discovered in Fall Creek Gorge.
But according to Bianchi, Cornell had already received reports from law enforcement about an earlier unauthorized Phi Kappa Psi recruitment party involving 90 to 100 students, including underage freshmen who became intoxicated. The university allegedly knew the fraternity was violating its policies, but failed to take sufficient action to prevent another underage party.
And even more troubling, the filing states that Cornell held a disciplinary hearing concerning that earlier recruitment party just one day before Tsialas attended the event preceding his death. The family argued Cornell was aware of what was happening inside its fraternity houses, with administrators already dealing with complaints about this particular fraternity, with an alleged “slap on the wrist.”
According to Cornell’s own disciplinary records cited in the Tsialas docket, on September 26, 2019, Cornell Police reported that a freshman claimed to have consumed 10 cans of Keystone Light at a Phi Kappa Psi party. The party was attended by an estimated 90 to 100 people, roughly a month before Tsialas’ death. An officer discovered tables set up for beer pong, beer cans scattered throughout the house and alcohol everywhere. The fraternity’s president argued that it was a smaller birthday celebration, not a recruitment event. Nevertheless, Cornell’s Greek Judicial Board found the fraternity responsible for three violations involving binge drinking or drinking games, unattended alcohol and “prohibited” freshman contact. The punishment? An educational meeting for the chapter president, risk manager and social chairs to review event management guidelines. The disciplinary hearing took place October 23, just one day before 18-year-old Antonio Tsialas attended another gathering at the same fraternity house and was later found dead. Although the written disciplinary decision was not issued until October 30, the family’s subsequent wrongful-death lawsuit cited the earlier incident as evidence that Cornell had been warned about dangerous behavior at Phi Kappa Psi before Tsialas died.
The filing also cited statements made by then-Cornell President Martha Pollack, who had acknowledged an “ongoing pattern of hazing and other offenses” involving Greek organizations. Pollack reportedly described the university’s hazing problem as “persistent.”
Bianchi argued that Cornell’s control over Greek life, combined with its ownership of the Phi Kappa Psi house, created a legal responsibility to protect students from any danger. The allegations were made in response to Cornell’s attempt to dismiss the family’s original wrongful-death lawsuit. But sadly, Tsialas was hardly the first Cornell student whose death put fraternity culture under the microscope.
In February 2011, Cornell sophomore George Desdunes, 19, died of alcohol poisoning following a hazing ritual involving members and pledges of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. According to court documents and reporting by The Cornell Daily Sun, Desdunes was allegedly blindfolded, restrained with zip ties and duct tape, and made to consume alcohol during a mock kidnapping ritual. He was later found unresponsive on a couch inside the fraternity house.
His death sparked criminal proceedings and a $25 million wrongful-death lawsuit filed by his mother. Three former fraternity pledges were acquitted of criminal charges in June 2012, but the former Cornell chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon was subsequently convicted of three misdemeanor offenses and fined $12,000, including a conviction for first-degree hazing. Cornell also revoked the fraternity’s university recognition for at least five years.
Then, less than two years after Antonio Tsialas’s death in October 2019, Cornell was rocked by another tragedy. On May 8, 2021, the body of 19-year-old Phillip Zukowski was discovered near Ezra’s Tunnel in the Ithaca Falls Natural Area. Zukowski was a member of Phi Kappa Tau. Per The Cornell Daily Sun, Zukowski’s family said he died after falling through a six-foot gap in the Ithaca Falls Natural Area.
The Ithaca Police Department initially indicated that criminal activity was not suspected, and determined no evidence supported that Zukowski’s death involved hazing or fraternity misconduct. But the deaths of two young Cornell students in gorge areas less than two years apart are deeply concerning.
Fast-forward to October 2026, and Cornell is once again making national headlines, this time over allegations that a female student was drugged and sexually assaulted in connection with a gathering at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024. The woman, identified as Jane Doe in a civil lawsuit filed last month, has accused seven men of sexual assault and named Cornell, Greek organizations and other parties as defendants.
On October 13, Kotlikoff announced that parties and social events at Interfraternity Council houses would be suspended for the remainder of the 2026-27 academic year. The university also announced additional measures aimed at addressing sexual assault allegations, including plans to involve New York State Police investigators.
To be clear, the deaths of Desdunes, Tsialas and Zukowski involved different circumstances, and do not establish the truth of the allegations in the Cornell Seven lawsuit, which is pending.
However, the historical record raises more uncomfortable issues for the university.
The post Cornell’s Greek Life Crackdown Raises Old Questions appeared first on LAmag.
