Judge rules Cornell’s ‘Jane Doe’ can use pseudonym in suit over alleged gang-rape
New York judge Phaedra Perry-Bond cites safety concerns and cyberstalking risks in ruling to protect Jane Doe's identity.
Quick Look
A New York judge has ruled that a woman alleging rape by Cornell University students may continue using the pseudonym 'Jane Doe' in her lawsuit, citing significant safety concerns and documented instances of cyberstalking and threats against her.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The plaintiff filed a lawsuit on September 16 regarding an alleged 2024 gang-rape at a Cornell fraternity house. The case prompted prosecutors to reopen a previously closed criminal investigation.
The woman at the center of rape allegations against students at Cornell University can continue using a pseudonym in her lawsuit, a judge has ruled.
The New York state judge Phaedra Perry-Bond ruled on Friday that the woman’s privacy interests – particularly concerns for her safety – outweighed any need to publicly disclose her identity in court proceedings.
The woman alleges she was drugged and raped by students at the elite Ivy League university in upstate New York in 2024.
She has become the target of threats, her lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, said earlier this month.
The defendants in the lawsuit have not opposed the request for anonymity, as the woman continues to go by a generic placeholder name “Jane Doe” used in many legal or official situations, especially when a woman’s identity is protected.
But Perry-Bond wrote in a ruling released on Friday that “some members of the public have made it their mission to try and identify Jane Doe”.
The judge warned that “cyberstalking and engaging in or encouraging threats across state lines, whether it be of Jane Doe, of any of the named defendants, or their attorneys, can be considered a federal crime and perpetrators of those acts may be subjecting themselves to prosecution”.
The woman in the Cornell case was 20 at the time of the alleged gang-rape at a fraternity house at the university. She filed her suit on 16 September, prompting prosecutors to reopen a criminal investigation they had initially closed without charges.
Mass protests erupted on Cornell’s Ithaca campus earlier this month, with students criticizing officials’ handling of Jane Doe’s gang-rape allegations, demanding the university president’s resignation and painting “SMASH THE PATRIARCHY” on an administration building.
Protesters shouted “Ban the frats” and held signs saying “At Cornell, rapists are safer than women” and “Stop rape culture.” Some demonstrators directed their anger at Michael Kotlikoff, Cornell’s president, arguing he had failed to keep students safe and chanting, “Kotlikoff, resign!”
Open Questions
- Will the reopened criminal investigation lead to charges?
- What is the university's formal response to the protest demands?
