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Jack Cocchiarella is a rising star in Democratic politics, earning thousands as a “Gen Z”  digital strategist for the likes of Florida gubernatorial candidate Rep. Charlie Crist and Marcus Flowers, running against Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene in Georgia.

Cocchiarella also has a secret. He was kicked out of the Dartmouth College Democrats last year after serious accusations of abusive behavior toward women began circulating. 

Jack Cocchiarella (far right) meets President Joe Biden.

Cocchiarella has built a mini-media empire with podcasts and high-traffic social media accounts. He is a Twitter Super Follow with more than 250,000 followers, another 15,000 on Instagram, and almost 20,000 on TikTok.  Cocchiarella uses his platform to push Democratic talking points and praise politicians like President Joe Biden and Texas’s Beto O’Roarke.

Cocchiarella went viral last year when he filmed himself confronting Congressman Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), during the congressman’s appearance at Dartmouth College.

He has since gone viral in a less-flattering way. The Washington Free Beacon reports on a string of December 2021 Reddit posts that accused Cocchiarella of using “his Twitter notoriety and left-wing credentials to position himself as an ally. Then, once people let their guards down, he rapes them.”

NHJournal verified the college disciplined him for at least one instance of allegedly abusive behavior. NHJournal spoke to an alleged victim who provided documents about the incident, including a letter warning Cocchiarella that he could be suspended for violating the school’s Sexual and Gender-based Misconduct Policy.

NH Journal is not reporting the name of the alleged victim to protect her identity. She told the Journal that Cocchiarella groped her on one occasion and attempted to touch her on several other occasions before she reported him to the school’s Title IX office.

She said Cocchiarella was friendly at first, but his behavior turned into stalking over a few weeks. His actions became progressively more inappropriate.  She started to feel unsafe around Cocchiarella and decided to go to the Title IX office. 

“What was scary is he said a lot of really misogynistic things,” she said.

The woman is still shocked by Cocchiarella’s online persona as a feminist ally and progressive fighter when in reality she was scared of him.

“How does he have this platform as a feminist,” she said.

College officials declined to comment for this story. Cocchiarella did not respond to several requests for comment.

Cocchiarella is no longer a student at Dartmouth. He recently confirmed in an Aug. 1 podcast that he had switched Ivy League schools and is now a student at Columbia University.

Late last month, Twitter users started tweeting at Cocchiarella about the allegations of sexual misconduct. Many accusers have been telling their stories online for months in forums for Dartmouth students as Cocchiarella started to gain fame for his liberal activism.

The Dartmouth College Democrats Twitter account published a tweet claiming Cocchiarella was kicked out of the club last year when several allegations became known on campus. The club later deleted that tweet, but a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NH Journal that Cocchiarella had been kicked out of the club because of the allegations. 

The Free Bacon also notes Cocchiarella appeared on a YouTube television show for the Lincoln Project, the anti-Trump political action committee founded by alleged sexual predator John Weaver. Cocchiarella was on the show to plug his own political podcast, Zoomed In.

Dartmouth College has a dark history of sexual misconduct on campus. Three years ago, the school paid a $14 million settlement to women who claimed they were sexually assaulted and harassed by three professors. 

The school’s fraternity culture has also gained notoriety. One fraternity served as a model for the one depicted in the 1978 movie “Animal House.” The fraternities were also the center of recent hazing scandals.