New York: A sexual-assault case involving a former Cornell University student has returned to the spotlight nearly two years after an alleged incident at a fraternity house in Ithaca, New York.
The case centres on allegations by a former Cornell undergraduate, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, who says she was sexually assaulted by seven men at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024. Cornell subsequently conducted disciplinary proceedings, while prosecutors initially declined to pursue criminal charges. The criminal investigation has now been reopened after renewed attention to the case and the emergence of additional information.
Doe, who was 20 at the time, filed a civil lawsuit against Cornell University, the fraternity and the men on September 16. In the lawsuit, she alleges that she was drugged, sexually assaulted and inadequately protected by the university.
According to records cited by the BBC and The New York Times, Doe went to the Chi Phi fraternity house on the night of October 19, 2024, after drinking, to meet a male friend.
She initially had a sexual encounter with two men she knew and told investigators that she initially considered the encounter consensual. She alleges, however, that additional men later entered the room, her level of intoxication increased, and she eventually became unable to consent or stop what was happening.
Doe has alleged that seven men were involved.
In an earlier interview with Cornell investigators, she described herself as initially being comfortable with the encounter involving the two men she knew. But she said she became increasingly uncomfortable as more men arrived and that she felt pressured to take ketamine. She later told investigators that she believed she was too intoxicated to make decisions for herself.
Doe did not immediately describe the encounter as rape. According to records obtained by The New York Times, she initially struggled to understand what had happened and was also affected by rumours circulating among students.
She later learned about messages and online discussions concerning the encounter and the number of men involved. The Times reported that an online comment describing Chi Phi members as having “gang raped” a sophomore became a turning point in her understanding of the incident.
Doe subsequently told investigators that she came to believe she had been sexually assaulted.
Messages exchanged after the incident have also become part of the evidence. The BBC reported that one of the men later accused by Doe sent her a message apologising for “how things went down”. He reportedly said his memory was unclear and that he and another man had been too intoxicated to stop the situation from escalating.
Doe initially responded that she did not believe the sexual activity had been illegal and said she had enjoyed being with him and another man. The New York Times later reported that her account changed as she processed the incident and that she eventually told one of the men that most of what happened had not been consensual.
Doe reported the incident to Cornell University Police on November 8, 2024. She was interviewed several days later by police and a Cornell Title IX investigator.
According to The New York Times, her detailed interview ran for roughly 120 pages. Cornell police later prepared a six-page summary for the district attorney.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said prosecutors concluded at the time that the available evidence did not meet the legal threshold required to bring criminal charges.
However, The New York Times later obtained more than 1,000 pages of records from Cornell’s internal investigation, including police interviews, interviews with six of the seven men, statements from other witnesses, text messages, emails and screenshots.
The newspaper reported that the six-page police summary did not include all the context contained in Doe’s longer interview, including details about her state of mind, her history as a sexual-assault survivor and how her understanding of the encounter developed.
In the full interview, Doe ultimately told investigators that she was certain she had been raped.
The men named in the lawsuit have denied sexually assaulting Doe and have described the sexual encounters as consensual.
According to the Cornell records cited by The New York Times, six of the seven men were interviewed. Several said Doe had initiated sexual activity and rejected her allegations of sexual assault.
One man reportedly said he had concerns about what was happening when he entered the room. Some of the accused men paused their interviews to consult lawyers or other advisers.
The allegations remain contested, and no criminal conviction has been established against the men.
Cornell University has disputed Doe’s claims that it failed to adequately investigate the incident or punish those involved.
The university said its police department investigated the complaint and that its Title IX proceedings resulted in disciplinary sanctions, including suspensions and expulsions.
The Chi Phi chapter at Cornell was suspended and later closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus. The national fraternity has also said it removed the accused members.
Cornell has agreed to an independent investigation into how it handled the allegations.
Tompkins County District Attorney Van Houten has now announced that his office is reopening the criminal investigation.
The reopening follows renewed public attention generated by Doe’s civil lawsuit and the availability of additional information.
The BBC reported that Van Houten said Doe’s original 2024 statement did not allege that she had been drugged against her will or gang raped and that parts of the statement described drug use and sexual activity as voluntary and consensual.
The New York Times, however, reported that the complete interview contained substantially more information about Doe’s intoxication, discomfort and evolving understanding of the encounter.
Van Houten has said prosecutors will examine the additional evidence and determine whether the case should be presented to a grand jury.
The reopening of the investigation does not establish criminal liability. The allegations against the men remain contested, while the civil lawsuit, Cornell’s independent review and the renewed criminal investigation are continuing.
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