Cornell president breaks silence amid outcry over handling of sex assault case

CNN

By Isa Mudannayake, CNN

(CNN) — As outrage builds around the case involving a Cornell University student allegedly gang-raped in a fraternity house in October 2024, the university’s president has broken his silence with a statement Saturday.

Here’s the latest:

• University president speaks out: “This is a defining moment in Cornell’s history,” Cornell’s president, Michael Kotlikoff, said in the video statement calling Jane Doe’s allegations “deeply disturbing.” Kotlikoff said he supports the governor’s decision to turn the criminal investigation over to the New York Attorney General and welcomes an independent review by an outside law firm into Cornell’s handling of the 2024 case, which he said Cornell’s board would announce next week. He acknowledged the university does not have all the answers and must “do better” to prevent future sexual violence in the community.
• DA declined additional evidence: The Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office in November 2024 declined to review any additional evidence, including more interviews gathered by the campus police department beyond the six-page statement signed by accuser Jane Doe, records obtained by the New York Times show. Prosecutors did not express interest in the additional evidence because they had decided, based on Doe’s statement, “Criminal charges would not be pursued in this case,” a Cornell police investigator said in a note documenting the call.
• Jane Doe’s explicit rape accusation: Doe’s attorney believes his client did not consent to any of the sexual encounters that are the focus of her allegations and was initially “in denial” about what transpired before starting to feel ashamed and finally realizing she had been raped, he told CNN. Doe told Cornell police in 2024 she was “pretty ok” with aspects of an initial encounter but did not consent to other sexual activities later that night, according to a statement CNN obtained from a source familiar with the investigation. In a separate transcript of a November 2024 interview with police, she said, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped,” according to CNN affiliate WCBS, which obtained the document. Prosecutors did not receive the transcript when Cornell police furnished Doe’s much briefer written statement, according to the local DA and New York’s governor.
• State AG takes over: New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ office has opened a criminal investigation into the allegations, she said. James is replacing Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten in overseeing the case. Although her office is limited in what it can share, it will provide updates “as they become available,” James said Friday morning. Both Van Houten, who has been DA since 2017, and Cornell have said they support James’ appointment. Both are Democrats.
• ‘I want the truth’: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is “deeply disturbed” with how Cornell police conducted the original investigation following the alleged gang rape at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024. Vowing to unravel the investigation’s failures, the Democratic governor said Friday, “In what world would the police learn from a victim that she’d been literally gang raped while intoxicated by five men in a fraternity house and not elevate those allegations to the district attorney?”
• Closing a New York law ‘loophole’: It’s time for New York to change its sexual assault law, which excludes victims who willfully became intoxicated, the governor said. She vowed to help ensure the law changes as soon as possible, a shift activists and some lawmakers have long sought. “Voluntary intoxication is not a license for sexual assault or gang rape. Period,” Hochul said.
• Professors and students condemn school’s approach: “We are deeply disturbed by Cornell University administration’s response and communications to the community, initially in 2024 and now,” wrote the Cornell chapter of the American Association of University Professors, lambasting the school’s “failures.” Current and former students have also criticized the school, which canceled all social fraternity events this weekend, internal communications obtained by The Cornell Daily Sun show. The national president of Doe’s sorority called the alleged assault “abhorrent and inexcusable.” Cornell student groups plan to protest on campus Monday to “hold our university responsible,” Students for a Democratic Cornell and others posted.

University president promises answers

Jane Doe’s alleged experiences raise “heartbreaking and troubling issues about sexual assault, dehumanization, and aspects of party culture, alcohol, and drug use,” Kotlikoff said in his video statement.

The Cornell president added the allegations raise questions around the initial investigation, saying the university does not have “all the answers” but is committed to investigating and finding them. He said next week, Cornell’s board of trustees will announce an independent review into the handling of the 2024 case by an outside law firm.

While Cornell had released a statement after Doe filed her lawsuit in September and later launched an FAQ page on the allegations, Saturday’s remarks from Kotlikoff mark his first on-camera statement on the case.

Kotlikoff said he backs legislative efforts to change New York’s sexual assault law and Hochul’s decision to appoint a special prosecutor in the investigation – a move the university previously told CNN it supported.

While the criminal investigation and review are underway, the university will work to strengthen programs surrounding sexual assault prevention and education, mental health and substance use, he added.

Addressing frustrations surrounding Cornell’s communications about the case, he said “we will make a greater effort to explain what we can, to provide context about the actions Cornell has taken, and to be more transparent” within the confines of legal and policy limits.

Toward the end of his statement, Kotlikoff signaled support for reviewing the role of Greek organizations in campus life. “We will reengage students, alumni, and other members of our community to examine how we preserve what is valuable about Greek life while strengthening individual accountability, transparency, and a culture in which every member understands their responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of others,” he said.

Records offer insight into assault allegations and aftermath

Snapchat messages, a Cornell disciplinary panel’s decision, a cache of documents from the university’s formal Title IX investigation obtained by The New York Times and phone recordings by Jane Doe reviewed by ABC News have shed new light on what may have happened in the fraternity house. The sources also help clarify Doe’s reported frame of mind at points on the night that began October 19, 2024, and how her understanding of the events changed as she processed her trauma in the following weeks.

When Doe first went to campus police, authorities documented that she reported “she was recently raped by 8-10 men at the Chi Phi fraternity house,” according to documents reviewed by ABC News. CNN has asked campus police for a copy of the report.

The phrase does not appear in the six-page statement sent to prosecutors.

Cornell is facing scrutiny because the university initially said campus police investigated the allegations in 2024 and “shared all investigatory information with the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office.” But the school later changed its statement, now saying police investigated the allegations in 2024 and “shared the victim’s sworn statement and the Snapchat screenshot” with the DA’s office.

Van Houten previously said his office did not bring criminal charges because of Doe’s six-page statement. He later said his office had access to some Snapchat messages exchanged during the alleged assault in a group chat titled, “Chi Phi Actives.” Images of one Snapchat chain obtained by CNN include a photo of Doe in a room at the fraternity house during the time she describes being assaulted.

Doe also made an explicit allegation of rape in her interview that was not included in the six-page statement furnished to prosecutors, according to WCBS. Although Doe did recount being hit and feeling emotionally coerced in the statement, it did not include some stronger language or allegations she used in her interview, according to The New York Times, citing documents it obtained.

Among the documents obtained by the Times also were records showing the district attorney’s office declined to review any additional evidence gathered by the campus police department beyond the six-page statement signed by Doe. A Cornell police investigator spoke to a member of the district attorney’s staff on November 25, 2024, about reviewing additional evidence, the Times said. By that time, university police had conducted more interviews and reviewed chat messages, the Times report said.

But prosecutors did not express interest in the additional evidence because they had decided that, based on Doe’s statement, “Criminal charges would not be pursued in this case,” a Cornell police investigator said in a note documenting the call. When reached for comment, the district attorney staff member referred all questions to the district attorney, the Times reported.

Van Houten told the Times by email that any additional records gathered by the Cornell police were “not pertinent to our analysis because we had Jane Doe’s comprehensive account of the events.” CNN reached out to Van Houten’s office for comment Friday.

CNN obtained a copy of a heavily redacted, 99-page document summarizing key evidence included in a Cornell disciplinary panel’s decision, which supports the Times’ findings about how Doe later came to understand the night’s events as assault. The panel’s decision details more than 50 interviews, including with six of the seven accused men.

Additionally, Jane Doe three weeks after the incident asked the fraternity member who invited her to the house that night, “Do you remember how any of these guys walked in?” her phone recordings reviewed by ABC News indicate.

He made no mention of his group chat invitation, ABC News reported, instead explaining to Doe, “The door was just unlocked. … The party was sort of like crowded. … There was nowhere else to go.”

Doe told him, “If I wanted to take this somewhere, what y’all did would be classified as gang rape,” she told him, ABC News reported, noting Doe’s recorded phone calls to at least three of the fraternity brothers were later turned over to university investigators.

One of the men Doe has accused of sexual assault reportedly sent her this text message: “I just wanted to apologize for how things went down the other night,” according to records obtained by The New York Times and corroborated by Doe’s attorney. The sender said he and another male allegedly involved felt terrible and too under the influence of drugs and alcohol to “shut it down and kick people out before it got way out of hand.”

“I’m so sorry,” another alleged attacker told Doe around the same time in a message ABC News reviewed. “I feel so bad for you, dude.”

The initial university investigation led to suspensions and expulsions for the accused students, according to Doe’s attorney, the barring of the fraternity chapter from campus and the launch of a sexual assault task force. Four of the Chi Phi fraternity members acknowledged having sexual contact with Doe but said their interactions had been consensual. The others denied participating in sexual encounters, the Times reported.

Amid the renewed investigation, court documents show a Chi Phi fraternity member named as a defendant in Doe’s civil suit has been petitioning New York state courts to invalidate a university disciplinary decision that found him responsible for attempted sexual exploitation.

Help is available: For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on online.rainn.org.

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CNN’s Rebekah Riess, Holly Yan, Jessie Yeung, Gloria Pazmino, Jason Carroll, Alisha Ebrahimji and Jake Tapper contributed to this report.