Prosecutors in Tompkins County, New York, have reopened their investigation into an alleged gang rape at Ivy League Cornell University. According to a former student, she was raped by seven fraternity members after being forced to take drugs. Charges were never brought, and the university allegedly imposed lenient punishments on participants, such as writing essays. After the girl decided to sue the university, and the prosecutor's office announced the resumption of the investigation, the case received wide public attention.
The victim is identified in the case as Jane Doe, a pseudonym used in English-speaking countries when the woman's real name is unknown or hidden.
Jane Doe filed the civil lawsuit on September 16. More than a dozen people and organizations are named as defendants, including seven alleged rapists, Cornell University and the Chi Phi fraternity.
The lawsuit alleges that on the night of October 19, 2024, then 20-year-old Jane arrived at the Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University to visit a friend. By that time the girl was already drunk. A friend and another fraternity member poured her more and forced her to inhale ketamine through her nose. Thereafter, unable to consent, she was sexually assaulted, the lawsuit says.
One of the men sent a message to the fraternity's Snapchat group chat, prompting several other fraternity members to join in the rape. According to CNN, part of this correspondence is in the case file.
Jane reported the incident to Cornell University police on November 8, 2024. A criminal case was opened, but never resulted in charges being filed, and the university did not respond to the situation properly: disciplinary measures taken against the suspects included writing an essay.
Jeremy Saland, a lawyer for one of the defendants in the lawsuit, denies the allegations. His client, he claims, "reacted to the situation and left an immature comment on Snapchat" but "didn't do anything else." According to Saland, the young man “did not engage in any sexual activity, did not touch the plaintiff, and did not use ketamine.”
Not a single arrest
Doe's lawyer, Thomas P. Giuffra, said he believes the initial investigation was improper.
“I find it difficult to understand how a thorough criminal investigation could have been carried out if she did not speak to anyone other than the police officer who took her initial statement,” he said. After that, he said, she was not contacted by investigators from the Tompkins County District Attorney's Office or "any investigators trained in interviewing rape survivors."
“I would expect that she would be questioned at least several times, that law enforcement would gather evidence and build a case file. This is the standard procedure for investigating serious crimes,” he explained in a commentary to CBS, the BBC's American partner.
The Ithaca City Police Department, where the university is located, released a statement saying they had not received any reports of the incident and were only learning about it through the media.
Jane Doe's lawsuit alleges the university failed to adequately discipline those involved in the alleged crime and "protected them from contact with law enforcement." Two were expelled, Doe's lawyer said, and the rest received less severe punishments: suspension, participation in workshops and writing essays.
“None of these guys were arrested. Not a single one,” he emphasized in a commentary to CBS, adding that his client dropped out of school after the incident.
According to him, in the first days after the incident, she was in a state of shock and numbness, unable to function normally or comprehend the full horror of what had happened. The plaintiff demands a trial by jury to determine the amount of monetary compensation.
How does the university explain what happened?
Cornell University said that "none of the accused individuals were asked to write an essay as the sole consequence of their participation in the incident." The university conducted its own investigation separate from the criminal trial. A special commission “consisting of specially trained teachers and staff” considered the case and decided on punishments.
Punishments are said to have ranged, including expulsion and suspension. The university does not provide more specific information about disciplinary measures, citing the federal law protecting the confidentiality of student information, but promises to give a more detailed answer as part of the lawsuit.
The university emphasizes that it has closed the Chi Phi fraternity chapter and is not allowed to operate on campus.
Cornell University "supports the Tompkins County District Attorney's decision to provide the opportunity to tell the victim's story ... before a grand jury in a criminal case," Cornell University said in a statement Monday.
“Any allegation that the university did not impose meaningful penalties on those involved is false,” the statement said. “Continuing to propagate a false narrative about the minimal impact of this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less protected and deprived of support, and will contribute to cases of sexual assault being reported less frequently than they should be.”
In 2024, responding to reports of "serious and deeply troubling allegations of drug use and sexual assault at the Chi Phi fraternity house," the university announced that its police department was investigating and the local Chi Phi chapter and the status of "a number of students" were temporarily suspended.
The university also said it has launched an internal investigation and a civil rights review under Title IX, a law that prohibits sex discrimination at institutions that receive federal funding.
What the prosecutor's office says
As Tompkins County Prosecutor Matthew Van Houten explained in announcing the case's reopening on Monday, his office concluded two years ago that the evidence presented in Jane Doe's statement did not meet the legal threshold for filing charges and was different from that presented in the complaint.
“Jane Doe's November 2024 sworn statement did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped,” Van Houten said. “In contrast, Jane Doe’s statement describes her participation in drug use and sexual behavior as voluntary, knowing, and consensual.”
He said the victim's lawyers did not contact him to say her initial statement was inaccurate or to ask him to reconsider his decision not to press charges.
However, he acknowledged, victims of sexual assault may require years of therapy and treatment to fully comprehend and understand what happened to them.
He said he reached out to Jane Doe and her lawyers for more information as he prepared to present the case to a grand jury (in the US legal system, a court consisting of a large jury that analyzes evidence and testimony and decides whether there is probable cause to bring criminal charges).
“Once we decide on the appropriate charges, the case will be examined as objectively and impartially as possible,” he promised.
Doe's lawyer, however, argues that this information was provided to Cornell University officials in a timely manner and that the original statement was "not materially different from what is contained in the complaint."
“The defensiveness that I see in the district attorney's office makes me think that they are aware of the omissions and are trying to justify them,” he said.
In an interview with CNN, Van Houten was unable to provide a definitive answer when he received copies of messages exchanged among fraternity members that he called "completely vulgar and disgusting."
“They were not originally part of our analysis, but my understanding is that Cornell had them and the university passed them on to our team,” he said.
Public outcry
After the lawsuit and the announcement of the resumption of the investigation, the whole country started talking about the case. Many famous people commented on the situation, including actress Florence Pugh and US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
While there is outrage and shock on campus, there is also a "tremendous wave of solidarity" from people across the United States, said Sophia Dasser, editor-in-chief of the Cornell Daily Sun student newspaper.
The newspaper published the names of those involved in the lawsuit and called for an independent investigation into how reports of the incident were handled and decisions were made in this case.
“In my opinion, a lot of the dissatisfaction stems from how little information students have actually received over the last two years about this case, as well as the opacity of Title IX procedures,” Dasser said.
The university said it created a task force to address sexual violence on campus back in 2025. She has developed recommendations, some of which have already been implemented, while the rest are under development.
A university survey conducted in 2025 found that 35% of female students and 8% of male students had experienced sexual violence during their studies.
