Rape allegations at Cornell University sparked protests and outrage across the country in recent weeks, in part because of the brutal nature of the allegations and the lack of criminal charges. Many questions have surfaced about whether the Ivy League school and the local prosecutor did enough to fully investigate and address the allegations at the time.
But the case stands out in another way: It’s one of only a small fraction of sexual misconduct cases at Cornell and other colleges in the state that result in expulsions and suspensions, government data shows.
The Cornell case went viral after a former student, identified in court records only as Jane Doe, sued the school, seven students and others last month. In her lawsuit, she said she was drunk when she was plied with drugs and then sexually assaulted by multiple students at a fraternity house in 2024. One of the young men posted about “free p—y” in a Snapchat message, according to the complaint.
Cornell said Tuesday it hired former Justice Department official Sally Q. Yates to review how the university handled the matter. Separately, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) appointed state Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to reinvestigate the case after saying she had lost faith in the local district attorney.
New York state data shows most cases are either never reported to authorities or never result in serious discipline.
Of the more than 1,200 incidents reported to Cornell from 2018 to 2024 that involved students, seven people were expelled or dismissed. Fourteen were suspended. The data includes students who were accused of sexual violence, as well as staff members who were accused of assaulting or stalking students.
But the vast majority of reported incidents were never reported to police and never became formal disciplinary cases against students or staff, the data shows. And even when cases were opened, most of the respondents were either found “not responsible” or received more modest disciplinary measures.
“We’ve seen schools instead turn to methods like no-contact orders or removing the perpetrator from the survivor’s classes or from their dorm,” said Zoey Scheinblum-Brewer, policy and grassroots coordinator for Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, an advocacy group for survivors known by its acronym as RAINN. “Expulsions and suspensions tend to be the final thing that schools tend to turn to.”
The data for Cornell and other colleges in New York is available because of a state law, called Enough is Enough, that requires schools to report incidents involving sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking and the outcome of the school investigation and disciplinary process. The federal government doesn’t collect similar disciplinary data nationally.
The New York data, collected from nearly 300 colleges in the state, shows Cornell is not unique. Of more than 25,800 incidents statewide from 2018 to 2024, only a little more than 1 percent resulted in expulsions of students or dismissals of university employees. Another 2 percent resulted in suspensions.
Scheinblum-Brewer noted that many students who suffer rape or other sexual violence ultimately decide to withdraw from the process or drop out of school because of the traumathey have suffered. Some students also reach informal resolutions with the accused after mediation, avoiding formal disciplinary rulings.
“There are a lot of different points in the process in which schools can sort of get out of having to suspend or expel the respondents,” she said.
The data shows a greater portion of incidents were reported to law enforcement at Cornell than at schools overall in the state. But the reports at Cornell were also less likely to become formal cases in the school’s internal judicial process or result in the most serious forms of discipline, such as expulsions and dismissals.
Experts say there isn’t good national data on exactly what happens to reports that are referred to law enforcement. But nationally studies show that only a minority of sexual assaults reported to police result in arrests and convictions.
Overall, sexual violence is far more common than reflected in official crime reports, according to surveys.
A 2019 survey by the Association of American Universities, the most recent one the group conducted, found that more than 1 in 4 undergraduate women at 33 schools nationwide had experienced rape or another kind of sexual assault — defined as nonconsensual sexual contact involving physical force or inability to consent since enrolling in college. Assaults were nearly as common for students who identify as transgender, nonbinary or another gender identity other than male or female. About 7 percent of undergraduate men said they also suffered at least one attack.
“Sexual violence/assault is one of the most underreported crimes,” said Sarah McMahon, director of the Center for Research on Ending Violence at Rutgers University. McMahon said there are many factors that deter people from reporting crimes to police, including feelings of shame, fear of retaliation or not being believed and a reluctance to recount traumatic experiences with strangers.
Cornell is no exception.
A Cornell survey last year found 35 percent of undergraduate women said they have experienced sexual contact without consent since entering the university. That’s up from 20 percent in 2021 and 23 percent in 2023. However, the university cautioned that far fewer people responded to the 2025 survey, making it harder to “accurately estimate prevalence rates” last year, particularly among subgroups, like undergraduate women.
Many male students at Cornell also said they had been victims of sexual assault, but at lower rates than undergraduate women.
Nationally, the number of incidents of rape and other common kinds of sexual violence have risen on or around college campuses, according to federal data.
One possible reason is the #MeToo movement, which has spurred many survivors of sexual violence and other misconduct to come forward, including in academia.
“Over the past 10-plus years there has been a lot of work to increase awareness and make reporting options more accessible, so it could be reflective of this progress,” McMahon said.
The national data is collected by the Education Department as required by the Clery Act, a federal law that requires colleges and universities participating in federal financial aid programs to collect and make available information on crime, safety and related campus policies.
Looking at the numbers over the last decade year by year, it shows an increase in many crimes reported during the height of the #MeToo movement and a temporary dip during the pandemic.
Not every incident reported to a school is included in the Clery Actstatistics. For instance, some incidents could violate a college’s own policies of misconduct, but not meet the federal definition of a reportable offense or occurred outside the locations covered by the law.
Most reported incidents occurred on campus. But many happened at off-campus buildings controlled by schools or student organizations, which can include fraternities or sororities.
Kevin Crowe contributed to this report.
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