In light of the Cornell 7 incident, in which a student alleged that she was sexually assaulted by seven members of the university’s Chi Phi fraternity, Lakeside must encourage greater transparency, accountability, and discussion in response to its own disciplinary cases.

Cornell began its Title IX investigation two months after the student, referred to in court filings as Jane Doe, filed her initial report in November 2024. The institution shared no official statement regarding the findings of the investigation until The Cornell Daily Sun reported on Jane Doe’s complaint in September 2026 — nearly two years after the incident had occurred. As reported by USA Today, from 2018 to 2024, Cornell received more than 1,200 reports of sexual and gender-based violence; only 21 of these cases resulted in suspension, dismissal, or expulsion.

Although we are outsiders to Cornell’s disciplinary process, we are concerned to see similar patterns of a lack of transparency and a culture of silence ingrained in Lakeside.

Since January 2025, Lakeside’s Judicial Committee, or JC, has not released Community Updates: emails that previously summarized violations of community expectations and takeaways for the community. According to interim Upper School Director and JC Faculty Advisor Whitney Suttell, these updates served as opportunities for “transparency to … help create a culture in which we send the message about what we value.” Whitney, who previously sent the emails, explains the halt in communication as personal oversight and a matter of priorities: “It just … fell off my plate. It was a busy year.”

Despite the understandable chaos of administrative changes last year — with our new head of school and Whitney’s transition to interim Upper School director — the need for transparency remains. In its Statement of Community Expectations, Lakeside itself states that “honesty is the foundation of trust and integrity in the Lakeside community and provides the backdrop for all learning.” Yet how can a school maintain trust and integrity while its students are oblivious to harm around them?

For more serious disciplinary cases, which are sent to the Administrative Judicial Committee instead of the student-faculty JC, outcomes of disciplinary processes are rarely disclosed to the entire school. When a senior was expelled at the start of the 2025-2026 school year, Whitney states that the news was announced only to the senior class. Following a case of sexual harassment in 2023, Whitney confirms that Lakeside responded with no assembly, no email, and no mention in the end-of-year Community Update.

Whitney emphasizes the need to “think about someone’s privacy and their ability to learn and grow … and to have their right to have some information kept from other people” when disclosing details regarding disciplinary action. But while concerns are relevant, a public acknowledgment at the very least is valuable to bring awareness to and set a clear precedent against cases of student misconduct. 

In the case of Jane Doe’s assault, The Cornell Daily Sun’s reporting on the details of the assault and disciplinary process alleged by Jane Doe has been essential to sparking the “I Am Jane Doe” campus movements, rallying together students to share personal stories and speak up against sexual violence. Given the explosive response at Cornell and across the nation, we can expect that openness about disciplinary cases at our own school will also dramatically shift our school culture toward advocacy and accountability. If an immediate announcement of the case would jeopardize the privacy of students involved, semester-based Community Updates offer the opportunity to reveal valuable information regarding student misbehavior without sensationalizing a single incident.

The Missing Campus Conversations

Beyond delivering clear, timely statements to the student body, the school must also implement more discussion spaces, both structured and student-led. Though Whitney describes efforts to respond to violations of community expectations with advisory conversations, she also mentions “there are probably times when it’s more shaped by adults than we would like, because that’s our job, and [students] are doing school stuff. … It would be great to have some more built-in structures.” These built-in structures could be regular meetings with JC representatives, or a structured committee of senior leaders. Regardless of the format, these interactions would not only give students the agency to create conversations engaging and relevant to themselves, but the increased trust between students and administration would also encourage accountability from students when reporting misbehavior or harm. Moreover, as demonstrated by the absence of Community Updates, addressing disciplinary issues may not always be a priority for administration — even more of a reason to involve students in creating the conversations that we need.

But change doesn’t have to start at the top. Students shouldn’t wait for structured discussion spaces or administration announcements to break our culture of silence around problematic behavior. The media highlights the Cornell 7, but among the additional 50 members in the Snapchat group that were invited to assault Jane Doe, none reported the inappropriate messages. The failure of student action cannot be the norm; we cannot be quiet bystanders. If you have an opinion, don’t be afraid to bring it up to friends, share it in class, or send it to Tatler. If student reporters hadn’t disclosed the names of the seven in The Cornell Daily Sun, the Cornell case — and more broadly, sexual violence at higher institutions — would not have garnered the national recognition that it has. Such is the power of student voice; don’t throw away an opportunity to use it.

In the Cornell 7 case, institutional procedures failed to provide sufficient transparency and accountability. We can do better. Lakeside administration must establish more proactive communication and create open discussion spaces for students, and it’s on us students to attend those conversations and hold each other accountable to our community expectations in our everyday lives. Only through commitment and collaboration can we change our culture of silence.