Fraternities face reckoning after Cornell case

Plus: Why French students are protesting  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Richard Hall | October 05, 2026     Hello there. If you’ve been watching the images of protests in France over the past week and wondering what was bringing people out into the streets, we’ve got you covered today in The Brief. We also have a review from TIME’s Judy Berman of Netflix’s new adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, and everything you need to know about a dengue outbreak in Florida. IN TODAY’S BRIEF Frats under scrutiny East of Eden, reimagined Florida’s record dengue outbreak Why French students are protesting Digger’s $8 million disappointment Animal blessings         READ THIS FIRST Cornell President vows ‘serious look’ at campus fraternities Spencer Platt—Getty Images Cornell University is examining its fraternities and sororities after a lawsuit alleging a gang rape at a fraternity house prompted concerns about accountability for sexual assault on college campuses. The university’s President Michael Kotlikoff said on Saturday in a video message to the university community that the school would take “a serious look at the role of fraternities and sororities in campus life” among other steps aimed at creating a safer environment for students. “At their best, these organizations can provide ​students with friendship, belonging, mentorship and a powerful sense of community,” Kotlikoff said. “But being part of ​a group can never diminish individual responsibility.” The message comes on the heels of a civil lawsuit filed last month against Cornell and seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity. The plaintiff, anonymized as “Jane Doe,” alleged she was sexually assaulted and pressured to take drugs and alcohol on the night of Oct. 19, 2024, and that the university failed to protect her and mishandled its response. The lawsuit names seven current and former students as defendants, all of whom have denied any wrongdoing. —Miranda Jeyaretnam Read the full story here.         SPONSORED REVERB Live concerts bring millions of fans together through music. Behind the scenes, REVERB channels that energy into environmental action. See how REVERB has helped eliminate 4.6 million single-use bottles and is driving an entire industry to make sustainability part of every show. Watch the episode         WORTH YOUR TIME Netflix’s East of Eden brilliantly reinterprets ‘evil’ Cathy Netflix John Steinbeck’s East of Eden has been adapted several times over the years, and a general principle followed by all of them is that the novel’s primary female character, Cathy Ames, is pure, irredeemable evil.  While Cathy’s deeds in the novel are no doubt chilling, a new interpretation from Netflix, starring Florence Pugh as Cathy and written by Zoe Kazan, whose grandfather Elia Kazan directed the 1955 film version, treads new ground.  TIME’s Judy Berman describes the idea behind the series as a thought experiment: “What if Cathy, born into the prison of 19th-century womanhood, had behaved less viciously?” “It’s a feminist project, in that it takes for granted that a character who happens to be a woman should be given the same humanity as one who happens to be a man,” she writes.  Read the full review here, but beware of spoilers.         HEALTH CHECK What to know about the dengue outbreak in the U.S. Joao Paulo Burini—Getty Images Hillsborough County, Fla., has declared a state of emergency linked to a growing number of dengue cases. Some 485 cases have been reported in the state this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including more than 250 locally acquired cases. One person has died, according to Florida’s Department of Health.  Seasonal outbreaks are not unusual in Florida. But this time is a little different, says Michael Johansson, an epidemiologist at Northeastern University.  “This is the most locally acquired cases that we've seen in the state,” he says.  Dengue, sometimes called dengue fever, is caused by a collection of viruses carried by mosquitoes—primarily Aedes aegypti. It is endemic to the tropics, and most Americans who contract it do so outside the U.S.  So far, dengue has not established a permanent foothold in the continental U.S., says Johansson. —Veronique Greenwood Read the full story here.         SPONSORED SEABOUND Nearly 90% of the world’s goods travel by ship. From the food on our shelves to the packages at our doors, shipping touches nearly every part of our lives, and so does its carbon footprint. Seabound is betting on an unexpected solution: a box of rocks. By turning limestone into a sponge that captures CO₂ emissions, the company is proving that small innovations can help change the course of global shipping. Watch the episode         IN FOCUS Why are students protesting across France? Lou Benoist—AFP/Getty Images High schools across France have closed, thousands of teenagers have been arrested, and hundreds of people have suffered injuries as unrest over conditions in the lycée system has spread and erupted into violence in recent days. Roughly 5,000 people have been arrested since the protests began nearly two weeks ago in Paris, with the unrest spreading across France. As demonstrations have at times escalated into violent clashes, 170 students and 65 school staff members have been injured, according to Education Minister Édouard Geffray. Nearly 400 police officers have also reportedly suffered injuries. More than 400 French schools are expected to be fully or partially closed Monday after students set fires, blockaded entrances, and clashed with riot police around the country. The protests have been driven by anger over a variety of issues impacting French high schools. A main complaint among demonstrators is the shortage of teachers and support staff in the country’s schools.  The education ministry found that during the 2024-2025 school year, nearly 10% of teaching hours went untaught in public secondary schools. Most of that—7.5% of all hours—was because absent teachers weren’t replaced. "Today our school is paralyzed due to a lack of resources, teachers, and not enough desks,” one student told Agence France-Presse. “We don't have nurses or supervisors, and all they do for us is take away our phones.”  Complaints about insufficient resources and funding and poor infrastructure in schools have also been raised in the student protests.  "We are 35 per ‌class, ⁠we don’t have enough chairs in classrooms,” a 15-year-old student told Reuters in the Paris suburb of Pantin as demonstrators clashed with police deploying tear gas in an effort to quell the protest. “There are 35 of us per classroom. With 35 degrees Celsius [95 degrees Fahrenheit] in summer, it’s unbearable. There aren’t enough toilets, and there are water leaks in some rooms,” a 17-year-old told AFP at a protest in Strasbourg in the northeast of France. “The building is falling apart, the cafeteria is too small. There’s zero budget, zero resources, not enough supervisors.” Two student unions, the Student Union and the High School Trade Union, have jointly called for continued protests in the coming week. —Connor Greene         ONE NUMBER $8 million Tom Cruise’s latest movie Digger took in only $8 million from 3,300 North American theaters in its opening weekend. The film had a production budget of $125 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter.  SOURCE: HOLLYWOOD REPORTER         A VIRAL MOMENT Holy cow St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of animals. On Oct. 4 each year, his feast day, people bring their animals to church to be blessed. As the clip below shows, all creatures great and small are welcome.         SPONSORED AMINI Across the Global South, Amini is working to ensure nations are not left out of their digital future. From climate intelligence to sovereign AI, Amini is building the infrastructure countries need to own their data, strengthen public services and create economic opportunity on their own terms. Watch the episode       Linked In this addictive word-association game, find the steps that will unite two seemingly unrelated words in just four moves. PLAY NOW       ALSO WORTH YOUR TIME POLITICS Tennessee Reviews Lethal Injection Process After Botched Execution IDEAS  America’s Health Care Workforce Is in Crisis       More Newsletters from Click to sign up. D.C. BRIEF +FUTURE PROOF +HEALTH MATTERS +INSIDE TIME +IN THE LOOP +WORTH YOUR TIME + Subscribe to TIME Email us: thebrief@time.com Received this from a friend? Sign up here Connect with TIME   PRIVACY POLICY     © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All rights reserved. TIME Customer Service, P.O. Box 37508 Boone, IA 50037-0508, United States Unsubscribe