Cornell University is facing renewed scrutiny this week after a new lawsuit alleging a 2024 fraternity sexual assault prompted the university president to address the campus community directly. Against that backdrop, Antonio Tsialas' parents, Flavia Tomasello and John Tsialas, joined Fox News on October 2, alongside our own David Bianchi, to talk about what still needs to change when it comes to student safety and accountability on campus. Days later, Bianchi spoke separately with the Democrat & Chronicle about just how closely the new case echoes what his firm saw in the Tsialas case seven years ago.
Antonio, a Ransom Everglades graduate, died in October 2019 after attending an unregistered Phi Kappa Psi event during his first semester at Cornell; his body was later found in a gorge near campus. No criminal charges were ever filed in his death. His parents have spent the years since pushing Cornell, and colleges more broadly, toward real accountability for hazing.
On Fox News, Bianchi pointed to the need for stronger criminal consequences for the student organizations and members responsible when hazing turns deadly, framing the current moment at Cornell as further proof that voluntary reform hasn't been enough.
Speaking with the Democrat & Chronicle, David went further, calling out Cornell for leaning on federal privacy law to limit what it discloses about discipline, for a disciplinary process he says drags on long after the students involved have already graduated, and for leaving university police, who may have reason to avoid finding fault with the university itself, in charge of investigating these cases.
As he put it plainly, "very bad things are still happening in fraternity houses at Cornell."
Our firm represented the Tsialas family and has fought on behalf of other families affected by hazing for years, work that has shaped anti-hazing laws like Florida's Chad Meredith Act and Andrew's Law and resulted in the largest fraternity hazing verdict in U.S. history. We are proud to stand with Antonio’s parents, and we will keep pushing, in and out of the courtroom, for the kind of accountability that universities still owe their students.