A Cornell University fraternity expelled members days after a woman told the authorities in 2024 about being sexually assaulted after being given drugs and alcohol, a national executive of the organization said Wednesday.
Trey Robb, the interim executive director of Chi Phi’s national organization, said in a statement that the Cornell chapter had voted to dismiss the men three days after the woman gave her account to the police.
“These actions went beyond anything the law or Cornell University required of us,” said Mr. Robb, whose organization is based in metropolitan Atlanta.
Mr. Robb’s statement was Chi Phi’s most detailed account of its response to the accusations of a woman who filed a lawsuit this month saying she was sexually assaulted on the campus in Ithaca, N.Y. She has been identified in court documents only as Jane Doe.
Cornell, as well as Chi Phi’s local chapter and national governing body, are among the defendants. The woman contends the university and fraternity were negligent and failed to protect her. She also accused seven members of Chi Phi of assaulting her; it is unclear how many the fraternity removed.
Mr. Robb did not comment on the lawsuit but defended the fraternity’s response to the episode almost two years ago.
“As a private membership fraternity, Chi Phi acted within its own authority at both the chapter and national levels to remove men suspected of betraying the values of our brotherhood,” the statement said. “They failed to meet the standards we set for every brother, and accountability is how we will always respond to behavior that falls short of those standards.”
The fraternity, Mr. Robb said, “condemns sexual assault and drug and alcohol abuse in the strongest possible terms.”
“Neither,” he added, “has any place in our fraternity or on college campuses.”
According to the lawsuit Ms. Doe filed this month, she headed to the Chi Phi house late on Oct. 19, 2024, having had about 10 drinks over roughly three hours. Once there, according to the lawsuit, fraternity members gave her drugs and more alcohol and repeatedly assaulted her.
The district attorney for the area did not bring charges when the authorities first investigated in 2024 but has since reopened the inquiry. Still, the prosecutor, Matthew Van Houten, said this week that the woman’s sworn statement in 2024 “did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped.”
Instead, Mr. Van Houten said, the statement had “described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious and consensual.”
Soon after the woman spoke with authorities, Cornell issued a crime alert saying a victim had been “sexually assaulted by several males and coerced into consuming ketamine and other drugs.”
The lawsuit and the revived inquiry have prompted intense scrutiny of fraternities and sororities, especially on Cornell’s campus.
Cornell has a long tradition of Greek life, especially compared with other Ivy League schools. About one-third of its undergraduates participate in fraternities and sororities. The Chi Phi chapter was a cornerstone, founded at Cornell quickly after the university admitted students in 1868.
Court records do not suggest that the chapter was a regular subject of litigation, but between 2018 and 2023 — the year before the reported assault — the chapter had faced repeated campus discipline.
Cornell’s published records say little about the details and circumstances of the violations. One case in 2018, for example, involved hazing and underage drinking. A 2020 matter concerned overcrowding and an insufficient number of so-called sober monitors. Another case focused on subjects like noise levels and trash, while one in 2023 referred to “prohibited conduct — public urination, garbage.”
The penalties for those violations included a written reprimand, social probation and mandatory trainings.
And in 2020, the chapter was honored “for outstanding support and contribution to the Cornell Interfraternity Council.”
In spring 2024, the semester before the episode at the center of the lawsuit, the chapter had 67 members, 21 of whom were new. Its cumulative grade point average was 3.5, a touch above the average for Cornell fraternities and sororities.
After the woman made her report to authorities, Cornell suspended the fraternity. In statements this month, the university has emphasized that the chapter remained barred. The university said it also eventually suspended or expelled some members.
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