New York Prosecutor Reopens Cornell Fraternity ‘Gang Rape’ Investigation After Civil Lawsuit
A New York prosecutor has reopened a criminal investigation into allegations that a Cornell University student was gang raped at a fraternity house in 2024, after a civil lawsuit filed by the woman identified as Jane Doe drew national attention and renewed pressure on local authorities.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said Monday that his office is pursuing criminal charges against seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity and will present the evidence to a grand jury. In a lengthy statement, he also sought to explain why he initially declined to prosecute the case.
Van Houten said Jane Doe did not tell police in a sworn 2024 statement that she had been drugged against her will or gang raped. Instead, he said, her account described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious and consensual.
“My office obviously did not and could not have based our November 2024 decision on the allegations in a civil lawsuit that would not be filed until nearly two years later,” Van Houten said.
Cornell said it supports the district attorney’s decision to reopen the case, while rejecting suggestions that it failed to punish those involved after its own Title IX investigation. Title IX is the federal civil rights law that bars sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.
“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” the university said. “A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault.”
The criminal review follows a civil complaint Jane Doe filed Sept. 14 against Cornell and seven Chi Phi members. She alleges she was the victim of a gang rape at the fraternity house when she was incapable of giving consent, and that the university failed to protect her from sexual predators on campus.
The defendants named in the lawsuit include Cornell, the seven fraternity members, the Chi Phi fraternity, Jane Doe’s sorority, Delta Delta Delta, and an off-campus bar that allegedly served her alcohol. She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for what the suit describes as sustained psychological injuries, severe emotional distress, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.
According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe was a 20-year-old Cornell student in October 2024 when she went to visit a friend at the fraternity house on the school’s Ithaca, N.Y., campus while intoxicated. Shortly after she arrived, two fraternity brothers allegedly pressured her to snort what they said was ketamine, then sexually assaulted her, according to the complaint.
One of the men then sent a message to the fraternity’s Snapchat group chat suggesting she was available for sex, the lawsuit says. Multiple other members showed up, and she was raped for hours, according to the complaint.
During the alleged assault, the fraternity members “began pouring lines of Ketamine all over her body and snorting them,” the lawsuit states. The complaint says the assault ended around 5:45 a.m., when Jane Doe lost consciousness.
About three weeks later, on Nov. 8, 2024, she reported the incident to the university police department.
According to the lawsuit, the accused fraternity members were temporarily suspended while Cornell conducted a months-long Title IX investigation that included at least 12 hearings. The suit says the accused members were “afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell.” Two of the seven were ultimately expelled, while the others received lesser sanctions, according to the complaint. Jane Doe dropped out of school.
Last week, Cornell said it was “aware of a lawsuit concerning the deeply disturbing allegations of sexual assault involving members of the student community that occurred in 2024.” The school said it had concluded its Title IX investigation but would not disclose individual sanctions, citing federal privacy laws.
“The Cornell Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards investigated and adjudicated the allegations consistent with university policies. The Xi chapter of Chi Phi fraternity remains barred from our campus,” the statement said. “Federal privacy law prohibits Cornell from disclosing specific information regarding individual students and we therefore are unable to make a public statement on any other disciplinary response. Violations of university policies could lead to sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion. We will respond in detail through the legal process.”
The lawsuit and its allegations have prompted national reactions, including from actor Florence Pugh, who posted a lengthy response on Instagram calling on men to speak out against sexual violence.
“This is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us,” Pugh wrote. “You need to be leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behavior as much as we are. How can you expect us to trust that it’s ‘not all men’ when in moments like this, many of you stay quiet?”
Toby Morton, a former South Park writer, launched a website, TheCornell7.org, dedicated to holding the school and the accused fraternity members accountable. “Accountability is coming,” Morton wrote on Instagram.
The reopened criminal investigation puts new attention on the gap between campus disciplinary proceedings and the criminal justice system, and on how prosecutors evaluate evidence that may emerge or change after an initial review. It also intensifies scrutiny of how universities respond to sexual assault complaints, particularly when survivors seek accountability through civil courts after Title IX cases conclude.