What we know about the Cornell rape investigation

NEW YORK – Prosecutors have reopened an investigation into a 2024 report by a Cornell University student who said she was raped at a fraternity house, raising questions about how the case was initially handled by law enforcement officials and the school.

Her allegations surfaced again two weeks ago after the student, identified in a lawsuit as Jane Doe, sued seven men, the university, her sorority and the fraternity.

The case has led to fierce debate across the internet and drawn attention to the persistent problem of sexual assault on college campuses.

The district attorney for Tompkins County, home to Cornell in Ithaca, New York, said he would consider presenting the case to a grand jury. In 2024, immediately after her report, he declined to do so.

Here is what we know about the Cornell case.

What do we know about Jane Doe?

Because she is anonymous in the lawsuit, most of the details about her life are unknown.

Her lawyer has said she is from a small town about 1,610km away from Cornell.

She arrived at the university as an undergraduate in August 2022, then dropped out after she said she was raped in 2024.

She was 20 years old at the time and had been a member of the Tri-Delta sorority.

Her lawyer said she is struggling with the aftermath of the incident and is not in college.

What does the lawsuit say happened?

On Oct 19, 2024, according to the lawsuit, the woman was raped repeatedly over nearly seven hours at the Chi Phi fraternity house in Ithaca.

The lawsuit states that she started her night drinking vodka at the sorority house.

Around 8.30pm, she took an Uber to an event her sorority was hosting at a bar.

Although the bouncer correctly identified her as underage, she claims she was served at least one alcoholic beverage.

By about 11pm, she had decided to walk about a mile to Chi Phi’s fraternity house to see a man she considered a friend.

Once she arrived, according to the lawsuit, the man and his fraternity brothers gave her a beer, marijuana, rum and ketamine.

In the lawsuit, she claims she had not tried ketamine before and was pressured into snorting it.

The lawsuit then details a series of sexual assaults and continued drug use involving her friend and six other men.

At about 1.42am, one of the men sent a message to the Chi Phi Snapchat group inviting others to join in, using a crude term for female genitalia, according to a screenshot included in the lawsuit.

How did the police respond?

With the encouragement of friends, Jane Doe reported the incident to Cornell’s police department on Nov 8, 2024.

The Cornell police sent a crime alert to campus, stating that a victim had reported being “sexually assaulted by several males” and “coerced into consuming ketamine and other drugs” at a fraternity house.

In a message to campus before that Thanksgiving, Cornell’s president said that the university police department was continuing its criminal investigation, and that a second, administrative investigation into the allegations was under way.

Some time that month, the Cornell police asked the Tompkins County district attorney’s office to review a statement from Jane Doe.

Criminal investigators advised the police that they did not think they could bring criminal charges under New York state law based on the statement.

Jane Doe’s lawyer said that after she gave her initial statement, no police or criminal investigators contacted her again.

It is unclear whether the police interviewed the men involved, or whether Jane Doe was told that her criminal case was not being pursued.

On Sept 28, the district attorney – who has released only excerpts from Jane Doe’s initial six-page statement – said that the statement did not make clear that she was forced into the sexual acts or that she was incapacitated, though she was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

How did Cornell respond?

The university immediately placed the fraternity, and the seven men she named in the lawsuit, on interim suspensions, the suit said.

Meanwhile, Cornell’s administrative Title IX justice process swung into motion to determine any potential discipline for the accused men.

In May 2025, at least 12 hearings were held before a panel of faculty and staff, according to the woman’s lawsuit.

The accused men “were afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell”, according to the lawsuit.

Cornell does not deny that essays – which it calls reflection papers – were part of the punishment that the panel decided on for some of the men.

But it stated on Sept 28 that it was not the only consequence for any of them.

Cornell, citing student privacy rules, declined to give details about how the individual men were punished.

It said on Sept 28 that it gave the men “a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions”.

Thomas Giuffra, the lawyer who represents Jane Doe, has said in interviews that only two of the men were expelled, and that his client did not feel justice had been done.

What has been the fallout from the lawsuit?

Millions of people have viewed the lawsuit or heard influencers and celebrities discuss the allegations online, bringing attention to the ongoing problem of sexual assault at Cornell and other college campuses.

The mayor of Ithaca said on Sept 28 that he is proposing a ban on permits for Cornell events until the university reforms its sexual assault policies.

The pressure and attention pushed the Tompkins County district attorney to reopen the criminal case.

A criminal investigator has reached out to Jane Doe’s lawyer, meaning that there could still be criminal charges in the case.

Governor Kathy Hochul has called for an independent investigation of Cornell’s handling of the case.

The names and photographs of the seven accused men are widely circulating online, as part of a mass movement that some see as a grassroots effort to bring accountability, and others view as a form of harassment of men not yet charged with any crime. NYTIMES