With Cornell University facing backlash over how it handled allegations of sexual assault at a fraternity house, colleges around the country have grappled with their own methods for handling Title IX reports and the case’s implications for fraternity culture as a whole.
How does St. Thomas respond to reports of sexual assault?
The University of St. Thomas addresses sexual assault from many angles, whether that is through fielding reports at Public Safety, taking direct drop-in appointments in the Title IX or Dean of Students offices or offering preventative training and counseling services at the Center for Well-Being.
“We want to help students build skills, and so they can implement them. And also, we want to prevent any issues before they come up or intervene very early,” said Melanie Tucker, senior director of Health Promotion & Counseling and Psychological Services at the Center for Well-Being.
A sexual assault report can be filed at St. Thomas in several ways. Title IX, ADA and Equal Opportunity Compliance Coordinator Missy Majerus said that where and how students can report varies, which makes doing so convenient and accessible.
“But, you know, reporting can still be a very difficult thing to do, as accessible as we make it,” Majerus said.
When a report of sexual assault comes to Public Safety, officers first meet with the student for an interview. St. Paul or Minneapolis police and a representative from the Title IX office can also join, if the student desires.
The interview is then documented and handed over to the Title IX or Dean of Students Office to assess for other conduct issues. They may ask Public Safety to interview other people, such as witnesses. Public Safety then writes a report and collects footage if it is available.
“It’s not my job to summarize what you’re saying. If you’re coming here and telling me something you experienced, my job is just to listen compassionately and take what you tell me and put it in a format so that others can be aware,” St. Thomas Assistant Director of Public Safety Aaron Fimon said.
Under the Clery Act, the university categorizes every crime report and adds it to the Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report. Each year, the report is published and includes numbers from the previous three years. Fimon said the whole point of the report “is for students to know about how safe campus actually is.”
Under the “sex offense” category in 2025, there were two reports of fondling and four reports of rape on St. Thomas’ St. Paul campus. In 2024, there were three reports of fondling and three reports of rape, and in 2023, there were zero reports of fondling and six reports of rape. The category also includes reports of incest and statutory rape, both of which have been zero for the past three years.
Majerus said students sometimes drop by her office or the Dean of Students’ office to report cases. Other people use the online reporting system called “Tell Someone,” and Majerus said it is not uncommon for her to receive an email from a friend or professor reporting on behalf of a student.
“I’ll always follow up with the reporting party first to get as much information as I need,” Majerus said.
The Center for Well-Being offers counseling services, and if a student discloses to a counselor that they were assaulted, the Clery Act necessitates that a report be made without a name attached to it. Mandated reporters in the CWB, such as those in the Health Promotion department, tell the student that Title IX will be notified about the report, and Tucker described this process as a “warm handoff.”
The CWB also provides Sexual Assault Nurse Exams, and the results are kept in case the victim decides to file a police report later on.
“When we have a student that has experienced some kind of harm, we want to make sure that they’re as supported as possible, and to have the ability to get a student supported in that emotional way with their mental health and address that as quickly as possible, I am just so grateful for that,” Majerus said.
What are the St. Thomas community’s views on Greek life?
The closest thing that St. Thomas has to fraternities and sororities are the coed professional business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi – Nu Tau chapter and the friendship-focused sorority Philia. In addition to those groups, which act as clubs or organizations, students can join nationally and internationally-recognized honor societies, such as Omicron Delta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma business honor society, respectively.
Students in these groups don’t live with each other in a fraternity or sorority house. However, the organizations still have social aspects, even though there is no official Greek life label for them.
Some students also attend fraternity parties at the University of Minnesota.
Senior Sylvia Guertin has attended parties at the University of Minnesota fraternities, as well as those at Iowa State University, where her brother and sister are involved in Greek life. Guertin said she has enjoyed her experiences at frat parties and thinks the community culture in fraternities is beneficial for students. However, she said the behavior it allows can be harmful.
“Unfortunately, I do think it encourages a lot of behavior that deems women as ‘other,’ and so kind of in the similar sense with the Cornell 7 with that group chat, I feel like if that were to happen at most frats — not saying all frats, but like a lot of frats — I think it would be very similar,” Guertin said.
Tucker and Majerus expressed concerns about the behaviors that any type of party encourages, such as alcohol consumption and drug use. Fimon said that it can also be dangerous to go to any party where students are unfamiliar with the people and location.
“I’m kind of grateful that we don’t have Greek life on campus here,” Fimon said. “There’s a big difference between a professional fraternity and a social fraternity, and so I think if someone were asking me safety tips about if they were going to go to a fraternity, I think the biggest thing to remember is it’s not a bar. It’s not somewhere where they’re going to be held accountable for serving someone who’s necessarily underage.”
According to Majerus, hazing, bias and discrimination are not tolerated under St. Thomas policy, and the university requires students on sports teams to complete training exercises about these topics. Tucker said that Title IX education is also included in the training for orientation leaders and in the FYEX curriculum.
“We really talk about bystander intervention, especially as we’re doing training for student athletes, we talk about what that looks like and how do you intervene, because it can feel awkward,” Majerus said.
Tucker said that some of that training athletes receive includes education on building healthy relationships, how to intervene as a bystander and Title IX policies.
“I do think we have strong policies around those types of situations, as well, and we use those policies to drive the culture that we want. That comes out of the trainings and education that Melanie’s team provides,” Majerus said.
“We talk about healthy masculinity, and we have these discussions in a lot of different ways, and it’s not about bashing men or anything like that, but it is just identifying what is the culture, what are the stereotypes, and trying to address those, and especially the negative gender norms,” Tucker said.
Guertin said that her brother has had conversations with his frat brothers about the allegations at Cornell. His fraternity at Iowa State University also posted a statement condemning sexual assault. Some fraternities at the University of Minnesota have posted similar statements on their social media pages.
“Our society as a whole, unfortunately, is built to uphold things like that to happen, which is sad,” Guertin said. “But I also don’t think the conversation should stop. I think I’m just hoping this is a turning point for just people in general to become more aware of stuff like that.”
Ilah Daood can be reached at daoo3174@stthomas.edu.
