The saga of Matthew Ingalls, the Cornell University Chi Phi fraternity brother accused of initiating a now-infamous encounter that an unnamed female student claims escalated into a gang rape, reveals a stark portrait of elite hypocrisy. Ingalls, who once publicly decried his American citizenship due to its association with President Trump, now stands at the center of a scandal, having been expelled from his Ivy League institution and reportedly fleeing the country.
Identified by his full name, Umar Matthew Ingalls, the 21-year-old’s privileged upbringing began in Dubai. He attended the exclusive Dubai International Academy, an institution charging approximately $21,000 annually, nestled within the city's "Beverly Hills of Dubai" – a gated community where homes command prices starting at $3 million. This elite background was noted on his Cornell rugby roster, listing the Dubai school as his alma mater for the 2023-2024 season.
Ingalls’ disdain for American values, particularly those embodied by the America First movement, surfaced in a resurfaced 2020 article. While attending the posh Dubai school, he expressed embarrassment over his American citizenship, lamenting having to explain to peers in the United Arab Emirates, "no, I’m not a Trump supporter." The high school online magazine quoted him as describing how, "Generally speaking, ‘American’ over here is synonymous with ‘Trump,’ which is synonymous with a whole bunch of other words that I won’t mention." Apparently, common sense needed a permission slip even then.
His father, Matthew Burtchaell Ingalls, holds a prominent position as a professor of Islamic studies and chairs the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the American University in Dubai. A convert to Islam, the elder Ingalls, 48, has previously criticized research on Islam for focusing too heavily on terrorism, arguing that "Islam, in other words, was framed as a problem, not a way of life." His academic pedigree includes a doctorate in Islamic studies from Yale University and a master’s in Arabic studies from the American University in Cairo. Ingalls' mother, Yasmine Khattab, is Egyptian.
The elder Ingalls taught Sharia law and Islamic Fundamentalism at Yale. Curiously, his photo and contact information were removed from his bio page on the American University in Dubai's website this week, just as the scandal involving his son intensified. Funny how that always seems to happen when scrutiny mounts.
The younger Ingalls was one of two fraternity brothers expelled from Cornell in 2024 following an internal investigation that found them responsible for sexual assault. Court filings indicate that after the alleged gang rape lawsuit was filed last month, Ingalls reportedly fled to Dubai, then informed friends he was embarking on a "gap year" in Thailand to "find himself" post-expulsion.
Just four days after the incident, text messages newly released this week show "Jane Doe" frantically messaging Ingalls, stating, "everybody knows" and expressing a desire to uncover "the rats" who were gossiping. "My reputation is destroyed and i’m utterly ashamed. i’m f—king pissed because this many people shouldn’t know and i feel like i know who some of the rats in the room were," she texted, adding that rumors were spreading and becoming "crazier every f—king day."
In a bizarre twist, Doe also threatened violence against anyone who gave them "sh-t" about the events, while simultaneously proclaiming an "open-minded" view on sexuality. "Everyone needs to grow up cause sexuality and sex and sh-t is changing and stuff like this is going to become more common," she reportedly texted.
Two weeks later, as Doe detailed how the night began, Ingalls reportedly replied, "you come in, say hi. We start dancing for like maybe three to five minutes, and then I pop the question" – referring to the threesome. This was followed by Ingalls' own grotesque messages in the "vile Chi Phi Snapchat group," repeatedly urging "boys come whip it out." And there it is. Despite this, he later claimed to be the real victim, stating he was "sodomized" by Jane Doe and complaining that the Ivy League school ignored his claims of being a sex-assault "survivor."
All seven Chi Phi brothers have denied the accusations of rape, and as of now, none have been criminally charged. Ingalls, once so quick to distance himself from his American identity, now seems to have fled its legal reach, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions about accountability, privilege, and the double standards that seem to govern a certain segment of the elite. This story serves as a stark reminder that true American values demand responsibility, not just the convenience of escaping consequences, especially for those who so readily disparage the nation that afforded them such privilege.
