Prosecutors have reopened an investigation into a 2024 report by a Cornell student who said she was sexually assaulted at a fraternity house, raising questions about how the case was initially handled by law enforcement and the university.
Her allegations surfaced again two weeks ago after she filed a lawsuit against seven men, the university, her sorority and the fraternity. The case has sparked fierce debate across the internet and drawn attention to the problem of sexual assault on college campuses.
The district attorney for Tompkins County, where Cornell is, said he would consider presenting the case to a grand jury. In 2024, immediately after the report, he declined to do so.
Here’s what to know about the Cornell case.
What does the woman’s lawsuit say happened?
According to her lawsuit, beginning on Oct. 19, 2024, a 20-year-old undergraduate and member of the Tri-Delta sorority was sexually assaulted repeatedly over the course of nearly seven hours at the Chi Phi fraternity house in Ithaca.
The lawsuit states that the woman, referred to only as Jane Doe, started off her night drinking vodka at the sorority house. At around 8:30 p.m., she took an Uber to a bar, where her sorority was hosting a social event. Although the bouncer correctly identified her as underage, she claims she was served at least one alcoholic beverage. At around 10 p.m., she and other sorority sisters walked to another bar. Then, at about 11 p.m., she decided to walk alone about a mile to Chi Phi’s fraternity house to see a man she thought was a friend.
Once she arrived, the man and his fraternity brothers gave her a beer, marijuana, rum and then ketamine, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims she was pressured into snorting the drug, which she hadn’t tried before. The lawsuit then details a series of sexual assaults and continued drug use involving the seven men.
At about 1:42 a.m., one of the men sent a lewd message to the Chi Phi Snapchat group inviting others to join in, according to a screenshot of the message that was included in the lawsuit. It has drawn particular opprobrium online in part because of the supportive responses he received from his fraternity brothers.
How did law enforcement and Cornell handle her case?
After Jane Doe woke up on Oct. 20, 2024, she returned to her sorority house. She noticed a large bruise had formed on her buttocks and took pre-emptive medication for a urinary tract infection, according to her lawsuit. With the encouragement of friends, she reported the incident to Cornell’s police department on Nov. 8, 2024.
Cornell immediately placed the fraternity, and the seven men she named in the lawsuit, on interim suspensions, the suit said. 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 underway.
Some time that month, Cornell’s police asked the Tompkins County district attorney’s office to review a six-page, typewritten statement provided by Jane Doe. Criminal investigators advised the police that based on the statement, they did not think they could bring criminal charges under New York State law. The reason, the district attorney said Monday, was that her 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 both ketamine and alcohol.
It is unclear whether the police interviewed the men involved, or whether Jane Doe was ever told that her criminal case was not being pursued. Jane Doe’s lawyer said that after she gave her initial statement, no police or criminal investigators ever contacted her again.
Meanwhile, Cornell’s administrative Title IX justice process swung into motion to determine whether the accused men should be expelled or face other consequences. In May 2025, at least 12 hearings were held before a panel of faculty and staff, her lawsuit states.
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 1,000 miles away from Cornell. She arrived at Cornell in August 2022 as an 18-year-old hopeful about her college experience. After the 2024 incident, she dropped out. Her lawyer said she is struggling now with the aftermath of the incident and not in college.
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