Here's the latest
• 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
(41)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.
Gov lost faith in DA's ability to handle case 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.
Arrest was made at Chi Phi following ketamine overdose a day before the alleged assault
In the early morning hours of October 19, 2024, Cornell police arrested an individual at the Chi Phi fraternity for a drug-related offense, police records show. Jane Doe’s alleged assault, which involved numerous substances including ketamine, took place later that night.
According to a daily crime log reviewed by CNN, the drug arrest was referred to Cornell’s Office of Student Conduct.
Ketamine was used by multiple people at the Chi Phi house, including an unnamed individual who overdosed on the drug on Oct. 18, one day prior to that arrest, Title IX investigators wrote in their 99-page summary decision, which CNN obtained this week.
Jane Doe was initially "in denial" before accepting she was raped, her attorney says
Jane Doe was initially “in denial” about what had happened to her, before starting to feel ashamed and finally realizing she had been raped, her attorney Thomas Giuffra told CNN.
“Anybody who’s an abuse survivor is in denial. Nobody wants to be labeled with the idea of they were a victim of a sexual assault. It’s just not the way the human mind works,” Giuffra told Pamela Brown on CNN’s Situation Room.
After going to Cornell Health two days after the alleged assault and telling a healthcare provider she had gotten a UTI “from a traumatic event,” then being told to talk to somebody, “she came into the realization that look — I was raped,” the attorney said.
“I know I was raped, and I have to own it, accept it,” Giuffra explained his client’s realization, adding she then cooperated with police.
For context: “Trauma impacts memory storing and memory recollection, Sandi Johnson, senior legislative policy counsel with anti-sexual assault organization RAINN, told CNN. “So it’s not like if you have something traumatic happen to you that it’s seared into your brain, and you remember every single detail,” she explained.
“Trauma actually impedes the ability of the brain to even record some of what is happening, which leads to memory gaps. It leads to survivors not remembering certain aspects of what happened, because the brain was incapable of even recording what was happening,” Johnson explained.
Cornell University professors condemn school’s handling of sexual assault allegations
The Cornell University chapter of the American Association of University Professors is speaking out against Cornell University’s handling of the case in which a student alleges she was sexually assaulted at a fraternity house in 2024.
“We are deeply disturbed by Cornell University administration’s response and communications to the community, initially in 2024 and now,” the group wrote in a statement. “Cornell administrators point community members to resources, but do not exercise leadership in creating space to process the harm, the outrage, and to change the culture of misogyny. In moments of crisis such as this, we need leaders, not administrators.”
The Cornell chapter of the AAUP represents faculty, adjuncts, librarians, post-doctoral candidates and academic staff at Cornell University. The AAUP is a non-profit membership association and union that focuses on advancing academic freedom and shared governance in higher education.
In its statement the group said the administration’s response to the alleged sexual assault reveal the school’s “failures to understand and respond appropriately to actual harm and threats of safety on campus.”
“When it comes to sexual violence, Cornell’s communications have been oblique or silent, leaving the community frustrated, fearful, or angry about the administration’s lack of transparency about how it will take effective responses,” the statement reads.
Jane Doe wants accountability both civilly and criminally, her attorney says
Jane Doe’s attorney said his client is looking for accountability both through the civil lawsuit and any potential criminal lawsuits.
Doe’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra told CNN his client remains committed to working with Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation and is encouraged by her appointment.
“She wants justice, and she’s happy that somebody who shares that desire is now involved in the prosecution,” Giuffra said.
“It feels like a cover-up was going on,” Jane Doe’s attorney tells CNN
Jane Doe’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra, told CNN he is appreciative that New York Attorney General Letitia James has gotten involved in the investigation into the alleged gang rape of his client, because he believes “there was a lot of protection of the university and its reputation.”
“One of the things that struck me is, there’s not much in Tompkins County, other than Cornell,” Giuffra told CNN’s Pamela Brown on The Situation Room.
“I would have expected the full report, everything that happened, to go to the DA, and that either happened or it didn’t happen. I don’t know the answer to that. But it’s very odd to me what went on. Very odd,” Giuffra added.
CNN has reached out to Cornell University for comment.
Cornell University says it supports change to New York sexual assault laws
Cornell University issued a statement Friday expressing support for a change in New York law that would update the sexual assault statutes and make it easier to prosecute cases if a victim was voluntarily intoxicated.
Sex crime survivor advocates and experts often refer to a legal “loophole” in New York’s — and other states’ — sexual assault laws, which can make it nearly impossible for survivors to seek justice if they voluntarily consumed alcohol or drugs before an assault.
“If someone is too intoxicated to consent, it should not matter whether they chose to use drugs or alcohol,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference today. “Voluntary intoxication is not a license for sexual assault or gang rape, period.”
Lawmakers in New York have for years tried to make changes to the law, but the bill has failed to move through the State Assembly for a full vote.
