Key developments
• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is “deeply disturbed” with the original investigation conducted by Cornell police following gang rape allegations at the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024, vowing to unravel the investigation’s failures.
• Hochul also said she supports closing a “loophole” in New York law that can make it nearly impossible for survivors to seek justice if they voluntarily consumed alcohol or drugs before an assault.
• Attorney General Letitia James, who will be taking over as special prosecutor, said there is now “an active criminal investigation.” When asked about her appointment, President Donald Trump attacked James, a frequent target of his ire, although he appeared unfamiliar with the case. He also said the men accused in the case “won’t get a fair shake” from her.
Editor’s Note: This coverage contains some graphic and disturbing descriptions of sexual violence. For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on online.rainn.org.
Updates
(47)Our live coverage has ended. Scroll down for updates on the probe into the alleged rape case at Cornell University.
Sexual assault hotlines and resources
The news about Jane Doe’s lawsuit in the alleged Cornell gang rape set off a flurry of outrage and national attention.
And the case has dredged up relatable feelings for many: nearly half of women and more than 1 in 6 men experienced some form of sexual violence in their lifetimes, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About one in five women have experienced a form of rape, the CDC says.
Calls to the national sexual assault hotline run by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) have increased more than 80% since the news about Doe’s lawsuit.
If you need support or help, here are some national resources:
- National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
- RAINN has a 24/7 chat feature you can access on RAINN.org/hotline
- You can also find a database of state laws on RAINN’s website to help you understand your rights and options.
- This tool can help you find sexual assault providers and organizations where you live.
- WomensLaw.org has an email hotline that can provide legal information related to sexual assault in the US
- Victim Connect also provides confidential information and referrals for victims and survivors: 855-484-2846
New York:
- The Advocacy Center provides services in Tompkins County, New York, including online and in-person support groups and resources specifically for college students at Cornell.
- New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault has a toll-free hotline: 1-800-942-6906
Cornell University should have brought local police into the case, Ithaca mayor says
Cornell University should have brought local police into the investigation of Jane Doe’s gang rape allegations from the start, Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo said.
Campus police officers are “no substitute” for professional law enforcement agencies better equipped to deal with trauma cases, Cantelmo told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in a Friday interview.
“We’re now having to pick this back up two years later, and this could have been avoided if the university conducted itself appropriately and looped in outside agencies,” the mayor said.
Cornell pauses fundraising and tries to limit faculty communication with the press
Frustration is mounting among the faculty at Cornell University.
For days now, faculty members at the Ivy League school have been looking for signs that the university’s leadership and its response would be focused on the students and their well-being.
So far, they feel the school has failed.
David Bateman, a professor of government and president of the Cornell chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), said faculty and students have been left feeling “betrayed and ignored” by various levels of the institution.
The Cornell chapter of the AAUP represents faculty, adjuncts, librarians, post-doctoral candidates and academic staff at the university.
The feeling crystallized this week when faculty members received an email from school administrators outlining Cornell’s approach to its communications. The message, seen by CNN, encouraged faculty to direct any requests to speak with the media to its communications office. Some have interpreted this as an attempt to keep faculty from speaking out.
While faculty is protected from speaking out under academic freedom, Bateman said the directive has had a “chilling effect for some members of the faculty.”
“They are treating this as it is a bad problem because of public relations or bad press, which means they are not centering the needs of students,” Bateman told CNN.
CNN has reached out to Cornell for comment.
Cornell has also paused some of its fundraising efforts.
The administrator email outlined a pause to alumni communications until October 7, specifically “all gift acknowledgements” and outreach from the Alumni Affairs and Development office.
Bateman told CNN the faculty is focused on creating spaces for students to gather, process and talk about next steps, something he feels administrators should also be doing.
Working groups and meetings are in the works, which Bateman said “we want to do it without losing focus for the students.”
Former prosecutor says New York AG James can "start anew" in Cornell case
New York Attorney General Letitia James is a good pick to take over the alleged rape case at Cornell University and start over after so many “head-scratching moments” in the past week, former prosecutor and trial lawyer Katie Phang said.
“I think it’s time to clean the slate, start anew, and allow this investigation to move forward with all of the facts and the evidence being developed,” Phang told CNN’s Pamela Brown.
President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at James after she was named special prosecutor in the case and said the accused men “won’t get a fair shake.” Phang explained it is not unusual for attorneys general to step into that role.
James was also questioned by reporters on Friday about a post she made on X earlier this week about the case, which she described as “horrific and unacceptable.”
When asked if the comments could cause any issue with her prosecuting the case, Phang explained that James is “not coming in as a neutral arbiter.”
“A prosecutor is seeking to determine if there’s probable cause to be able to prosecute these crimes,” Phang said. “She will not be the judge in this case, she will be prosecuting the crimes as the evidence supports.”
“She may have made that statement, but I don’t find it to be inconsistent with the role that she has been appointed to.”
Cornell sexual assault survivor recounts Title IX process: "a complete lack of urgency"
A Cornell University sophomore who previously reported sexual assault allegations to the school detailed the discouraging experience of trying to get her case investigated by the administration, whose handling of Jane Doe’s case has come under scrutiny.
Jane Wang told CNN’s Pamela Brown in an interview Friday that she felt her case was “treated with a complete lack of urgency, lack of responsiveness” by Cornell’s Title IX office. Wang said she felt the burden was put on her to follow up on the status of the case and move it forward.
After several months of minimal progress, Wang decided it wasn’t worth pursuing the case and requested it be closed.
Wang emphasized she was speaking only about her personal experience, but said it resonated deeply reading about Jane Doe’s allegations and how the Cornell administration handled them.
Attorney explains voluntary intoxication exclusion in New York’s rape law
Victims’ Rights Attorney Gloria Allred tells CNN’s Kasie Hunt how under New York law, voluntarily consuming drugs or alcohol can make it difficult to establish a sexual assault claim.
What to know as special prosecutor takes over Cornell University rape investigation
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference today that she "will not allow anyone to sweep this case under the rug," announcing she is appointing Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor over gang rape allegations at Cornell University's Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024. James said it is now "an active criminal investigation" and prosecutions will be pursued "if warranted."
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is calling for answers and action as scrutiny intensifies around the investigation into the alleged 2024 gang rape of a student at Cornell University.
Hochul lambasted Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten because his office did not interview the student, known as Jane Doe, after her allegations in 2024. The governor said she was appointing state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor and that she would conduct a fresh investigation and pursue criminal charges should the facts warrant one.
Here’s the latest:
- There is now “an active criminal investigation” into the gang rape allegations, James said. She said she hadn’t talked with Van Houten, but the DA said later he supported the appointment of a special prosecutor.
- Hochul said she conveyed her “deep concern” over the handling of the case to the Cornell president. Doe was “failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her,” the governor said.
- Doe’s statement to officials that she was “100% confident that she had been raped” was not included in the account that Cornell campus police shared with prosecutors, according to Hochul. Doe made that comment to police in 2024, according to a transcript obtained and reported by WCBS.
- The governor called for a change to the state’s sexual assault law, which excludes victims who willfully became intoxicated. As CNN previously reported, activists and some lawmakers have pushed for this change for years, to no avail.
- Cornell said the university supported Hochul’s decision to assign the case to James’ office and is “committed to an independent external review of all aspects of how Cornell has handled this case,” according to a university spokesperson.
- Thomas Giuffra, an attorney for Doe, said his client is “not doing well.” He told CNN she is “under siege” on social media with people trying to identify her. Giuffra said his client was initially “in denial” about what happened to her and now just wants accountability, both civilly and criminally.
- Although he appeared unfamiliar with the case, President Donald Trump lashed out at James when asked about her appointment as a special prosecutor, saying she is a “corrupt person.” He also said the men accused “won’t get a fair shake.”
Other new information:
- Cornell police arrested an individual at the Chi Phi fraternity for a drug-related offense in early morning hours of October 19, 2024, police records show. Doe’s alleged assault, which involved numerous substances including ketamine, took place later that night.
- A Chi Phi fraternity member who is one of the defendants in Doe’s civil suit has been petitioning the New York state courts to invalidate a Cornell University disciplinary finding, court documents show. The school found him responsible for attempted sexual exploitation.
Reactions:
- All social fraternity events at Cornell have been cancelled this weekend, according to internal communications obtained by The Cornell Daily Sun.
- The Cornell University chapter of the American Association of University Professors said it was “deeply disturbed” by the school’s response to the allegations, both in 2024 and now.
- Cornell student groups are holding a protest on campus Monday to “hold our university responsible,” according to an Instagram post from Students for a Democratic Cornell and several other campus organizations.
CNN’s Rebekah Riess, Alisha Ebrahimji, Holly Yan, Gloria Pazmino, Aditi Sangal, August Phillips, Jeff Winter and Anne Clifford contributed reporting.
Cornell students "displeased" with university's handling of alleged 2024 assault
Cornell students are calling out the university for “not taking full accountability” over its handling of an alleged 2024 assault at the Chi Phi fraternity.
Hayden Watkins and Elliot Scheuer, both current Cornell students, described feeling a lack of transparency and ownership from the university.
Governor lost faith in DA after learning he hadn't spoken to Jane Doe
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul lambasted Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten because his office did not interview Jane Doe after her allegations in 2024.
“In what world does the district attorney not even interview her, or anyone else involved, or even request the full transcript” from campus police, Hochul said at a press conference Friday.
Van Houten said his office based its investigation on a six-page statement provided by Cornell police and signed by Doe. According to that statement, Doe willingly consumed drugs and alcohol and willfully participated in sex with fraternity members. Prosecutors reviewed the statement and determined none of the events described violated state law, the DA said.
It wasn’t until this week that Van Houten received more files, he said, including a transcript of a November 2024 interview with campus police in which Doe says, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.” Van Houten said he didn’t know about the rape allegations until Doe filed a civil lawsuit last month.
“I reached out to Jane Doe’s attorneys after the lawsuit was filed to understand the discrepancy between the original statement and the lawsuit’s allegations,” Van Houten said Monday, adding that a grand jury would re-examine the case. He said his office was reopening the case, “starting with our conversation with Jane Doe and her attorneys.” It is unclear whether that conversation has occurred.
But on Thursday, Hochul announced a special prosecutor would take over. “New information has raised serious questions about how this case was handled, and I’ve lost faith in the Tompkins County DA’s ability to fairly oversee it,” she said.
Trump says men accused in Cornell rape case "won’t get a fair shake" with Letitia James
President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at New York Attorney General Letitia James after she was named special prosecutor in the Cornell University rape case, though he appeared unfamiliar with the case itself.
President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at New York Attorney General Letitia James after she was named special prosecutor in the Cornell University rape case, though he appeared unfamiliar with the case itself.
“Letitia James is a corrupt person. She’s totally corrupt, and I can’t imagine it,” Trump said when asked about the appointment, as he was leaving the White House for Alabama. “And I feel badly for whoever she’s looking at because they won’t get a fair shake. Letitia James is a corrupt person.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that she was appointing James, a frequent Trump antagonist, to take over the case, which centers on allegations of a gang rape at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024.
James said there is now “an active criminal investigation” and pledged to get to the bottom of how the earlier inquiry fell short.
"I am Jane Doe": Social media campaign aims to protect Cornell plaintiff’s identity
Many women are posting videos online as part of an effort to shield Cornell University’s Jane Doe, as the renewed investigation into gang rape allegations at the school gains attention nationwide.
The plaintiff is “under siege” on social media as users attempt to identify her, her attorney told CNN today. The “I am Jane Doe” movement aims to fix that:
Assault alleged by Jane Doe is “inexcusable,” national president of her sorority writes
The sexual violence that a former Cornell University student alleges she endured at a fraternity house in 2024 is “abhorrent and inexcusable,” the national president of her sorority wrote in a letter to members obtained by CNN.
“I know many of you, like me, are feeling saddened, outraged and deeply concerned,” Stacey Dickenson Cox, national president of the Tri Delta sorority, wrote in the letter about allegations made by the former student, known as Jane Doe.
“The acts of sexual violence described in the reporting are abhorrent and inexcusable,” Cox wrote. “As a woman, as a mother and especially as the person entrusted to lead this sisterhood, my heart breaks for any sister or woman who has experienced sexual assault.”
The Tri Delta sorority and its chapter at Cornell are among the defendants in Doe’s lawsuit over the alleged gang rape at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house. The lawsuit alleges Tri Delta was negligent, and that the negligence contributed to the alleged sexual assault.
That alleged negligence included a house mother employed by the sorority taking Doe to a bar before the alleged assault, despite having seen her already intoxicated, according to the suit. The sorority previously told CNN, “Tri Delta does not comment on pending litigation.”
In her letter, Cox said that because Tri Delta is named in the lawsuit, the sorority can’t discuss specific details of it while the legal process plays out, but she wants members to not “mistake it for a lack of action, urgency or concern.”
Cox said the sorority is working to understand the facts quickly and remains focused on supporting members of its Cornell chapter with counseling, volunteers and additional security at the chapter house.
Women share their own experiences online as Cornell case gains renewed attention
As the renewed investigation into rape allegations at Cornell University unfolds, some women have been posting online about their experiences with sexual assault.
Defendant in Jane Doe civil suit petitions court to overturn school disciplinary findings
A Chi Phi fraternity member who is one of the defendants in Jane Doe’s civil suit has been petitioning the New York state courts to invalidate a Cornell University disciplinary finding, court documents show.
The school found him responsible for attempted sexual exploitation and Cornell’s Title IX panel imposed three sanctions on him, including writing a “reflection paper” and a no contact order between him and Jane Doe.
The defendant, who CNN is not naming, was at the frat house on the night of the alleged assault and, after seeing the Snapchat messages describing “free p*ssy” in the Alumni Room, says he went in to see what was happening.
The defendant told Cornell investigators he went to the room in part because his vape had just died and he knew the frat member who posted about “free p*ssy” had his own vape.
“We were just checking out to see if everything was okay,” fearing someone might have been in danger, he told investigators.
Jane Doe told investigators that when he and another defendant entered the room, “They felt more like voyeurs than anything in the situation.”
After leaving, the defendant messaged the Snapchat thread, “the alumni shit is not a bit. First hand pov not a bit,” according to the school’s decision document.
His attorneys filed a petition to overturn the school’s determination in March of this year, on the grounds he wasn’t originally charged with that offense. The petition was denied shortly after Jane Doe filed her civil suit and an appeal was filed thereafter. The case remains active.
Sexual assault on college campuses is a longstanding issue
The news of the alleged gang rape at Cornell University has shed light on the longstanding issue of sexual assault on college campuses.
One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Less than a third of college women who experienced rape sought help from a program or resource, as did 17.8% of men and 42.9% of transgender and nonbinary students, NSVRC added.
Often assaults go unreported. Boston University student Reyes Almeida is the president of BU’s chapter of ‘It’s On Us,’ an organization that supports sexual assault survivors on college campuses and tries to prevent assaults from happening through intervention training. She told CNN that many of the survivors their organization works with have chosen not to report their sexual assault to the university, Almeida said.
CNN has reached out to BU about survivors choosing not to report assault.
In the outrage around the case, some have tried to tie the Cornell case to high profile incidents that were determined to be unfounded and the alleged perpetrators wrongly accused.
Research has found that false allegations are rare, estimated to represent 2 to 10 percent of reports, according to one analysis.
CNN’s Brittany Shammas, Lauren Mascarenhas and Taylor Galgano contributed to this report.
Cornell student groups to hold campus protest on Monday
Cornell University student groups are holding a protest on campus Monday to “hold our university responsible” and “demand change,” according to an Instagram post from Students for a Democratic Cornell and several other campus organizations.
“The Cornell Administration upholds a system that allows rape culture to go unpunished,” the post reads.
The post lists several demands for the university, including the expulsion or degree revocation of “all perpetrators complicit in the gang rape of Jane Doe” and an investigation of the Cornell administration.
“We won’t be silenced anymore,” the post’s caption says. “Our university needs to start protecting us, like they should’ve with Jane Doe and all other survivors on campus.”
In a statement condemning the school’s handling of the case, the Cornell chapter of the American Association of University Professors urged community members to attend the Monday protest and to “keep coming together in the weeks and months and years ahead, as we work together to hold our institutions accountable and to eradicate the culture of misogyny and violence.”
The Ithaca College Young Feminists Collective announced three upcoming rallies in support of Jane Doe as groups in the wider community join calls for transparency and reform at Cornell.
This post has been updated to note an additional event.
Calls to sexual assault hotline up 80% following Cornell gang rape allegations
Calls to the national sexual assault hotline run by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), a nonprofit anti-sexual assault organization, have increased more than 80% since the news about Jane Doe’s lawsuit in the alleged Cornell gang rape emerged.
“We’re hearing from survivors who are realizing and understanding, for the first time, that maybe their experience is considered rape or considered sexual assault,” Megan Cutter, Chief of Victim Services with RAINN told Pamela Brown on CNN’s Situation Room.
“All of this coverage is making them kind of consider their own experience,” Cutter said. “Particularly this week, people are coming forward and saying, ‘This happened. My friend did this to me. I thought he was my friend. Now I’m wondering more about … I didn’t consent the whole time, or I didn’t feel I could say no.’”
“We want to be here to support folks in whatever moment that they reach the hotline,” Cutter added. “It’s really layered and complicated and can also be very different for each individual and each situation.”
Tompkins County DA says he supports appointment of special prosecutor
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said Friday he supports the appointment of a special prosecutor to oversee the case in which a woman alleges she was sexually assaulted at a Cornell University fraternity house in 2024.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday she would appoint state Attorney General Letitia James a special prosecutor in the case.
“I support the appointment of Attorney General James and I trust that she will examine the facts and apply the law,” Van Houten said in a release. “It has become clear that we were not provided the full picture by the university.”
Over the past few days, revelations have come to light showing Van Houten did not receive all investigative documents. There are also conflicting accounts of what was provided to Van Houten and when. Van Houten declined to bring criminal charges in the case in 2024 after saying Jane Doe had described her actions on the night of the incident as “consensual.”
The appointment of James means Van Houten will no longer have authority over the case.
“The focus has been and should continue to be on the victims. My office with cooperate fully with the attorney general,” Van Houten said.
“I don’t think it was ever consensual,” Jane Doe's attorney says
Jane Doe’s attorney says he believes she did not consent to any of the sexual encounters that are the focus of her allegations that she was drugged and gang raped at a Cornell University fraternity house in 2024.
“I don’t think it was ever consensual,” Giuffra told CNN said when asked about encounters to which Doe testified in documents.
“She showed up at the Chi Phi house, heavily intoxicated. There was testimony not just from the people involved in the assault, but there was a lot of testimony from people who were around that time, saw her that day. And by all accounts, she was completely, completely intoxicated. She couldn’t consent to anything,” Giuffra said.
“So I don’t think she ever consented and was incapable of consenting because of the level of intoxication, and the fact that she was plied with drugs. She couldn’t consent to anything,” he said.
Key context: In a 2024 statement to Cornell police, obtained by CNN from a source familiar with the investigation, Doe said she was asked to participate in a threesome while at Chi Phi on October 19. She told police she was “pretty ok” with aspects of an initial encounter, but that later in the night she did not consent to other sexual activities, according to the statement. She said she “was unable to make any decisions because of how intoxicated I was”; described being “horrified” as more men entered the room; and said she “finally gave in” to one later encounter after she was asked “to have sex so many times,” describing it as “coercion,” according to the statement.
But a separate document — a transcript of a November 2024 interview with campus police, according to WCBS — shows Doe made a more explicit accusation. “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped,” Doe said in the transcript, according to WCBS. This transcript was not initially given to prosecutors, according to the local district attorney and the governor.
Giuffra on Friday also referred to a Cornell document that summarizes key evidence included in a university disciplinary panel’s decision. In a hearing months after the alleged assault, she told Cornell investigators she “felt like bait” and “felt like lions around me” at the house, according to a heavily redacted version of the 99-page document obtained by CNN.
“I mean, that’s being trapped. That’s physically helpless,” Giuffra told CNN.
