Cornell University gang rape case reopened by New York prosecutors after civil lawsuit

New York state prosecutors have confirmed they will reopen a criminal investigation into allegations that a woman was drugged and sexually assaulted by multiple men at a Cornell University fraternity house in 2024, a decision that follows the filing of a civil lawsuit and mounting public pressure over how the prestigious Ivy League institution handled the matter.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced on Monday that his office would present the case to a grand jury, the body that weighs evidence and testimony before deciding whether criminal charges are warranted. He said that once appropriate charges are determined, "the case will be prosecuted in the most objective and impartial means possible."

The complainant, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, filed a civil suit on 16 September alleging that seven members of Cornell's Chi Phi fraternity chapter assaulted her on the night of 19 October 2024. According to the lawsuit, the incident involved alcohol and the drug ketamine, and Doe contends she was too intoxicated to give consent.

Doe says she reported the alleged attack to Cornell University Police on 8 November 2024. The lawsuit also cites an image said to be taken from a Snapchat group chat used by fraternity members, in which one participant alerted others in crude language to the possibility of a sexual encounter with Doe.

The reopening marks a significant reversal. Van Houten said that when the allegation was first made, his office concluded the evidence contained in Doe's statement to authorities did not meet the legal threshold required to bring charges. He added that he had since reached out to Doe and her legal team for additional information as he prepared to take the matter before a grand jury.

In explaining the earlier decision, Van Houten released a summary of what Doe told Cornell police in 2024, noting that her account at the time differed from the allegations now set out in her civil complaint. He said her sworn statement in November 2024 did not claim she had been drugged against her will or gang raped, and that it instead described her drug use and sexual conduct as "voluntary, conscious, and consensual."

The district attorney also said Doe's lawyers had never contacted him to say her original statement was inaccurate or to ask him to reconsider his decision not to prosecute. He nonetheless acknowledged "the reality that it can take years of therapy and healing for victims of sexual assaults to fully process and understand what happened to them."

Thomas Giuffra, an attorney for Doe, pushed back against the suggestion that his client's account had shifted without explanation. In a statement obtained by CBS, the BBC's US partner, he said that in the days after the assault Doe "was traumatised, numb and unable to function or accept the horror of what had happened," describing her as being in "self-preservation mode."

Giuffra said Doe had spoken to no one other than the officer who took her initial complaint. He argued that a serious investigation would normally have involved multiple interviews with the complainant and the collection of evidence by law enforcement. "This is the normal sequence for serious crime investigations," he said.

He further criticised the district attorney's public statements, saying the "defensive posture" he had observed suggested prosecutors recognised there had been failures and were attempting to excuse them.

Cornell University has disputed Doe's claim that it failed to protect her or adequately punish the men accused. In its response on Monday, the university said it supported the case going before a grand jury but insisted that "any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false."

The university said the matter had been referred to a panel of trained faculty and staff, which issued a range of sanctions including expulsions and suspensions from Cornell. It specifically rejected the allegation, made in the lawsuit, that the men were merely "afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays," stating that none of those charged were offered essay-writing as a sole consequence.

In November 2024, Cornell issued a public statement about what it called "serious and deeply disturbing allegations of drug abuse and sexual violence at the Chi Phi fraternity house." At that time, the university said its campus police were investigating, that it had suspended the local Chi Phi chapter along with "a number of students," and that it had opened both an internal investigation and a civil rights inquiry under Title IX, the federal law barring sex discrimination at schools receiving government funding.

The lawsuit alleges that Doe suffered "severe emotional and psychological distress and personal physical injury" as a result of both the incident and the university's handling of it, and that word of what happened spread quickly across campus.

Jeremy Saland, an attorney for one of the men named in the civil suit, denied the allegations against his client. Saland acknowledged that his client "responded to and made an immature comment on Snapchat" but said he "did nothing else." He denied that his client took part in any sexual activity, touched the plaintiff in any way, or ingested ketamine.

The case has drawn national attention since the lawsuit was filed and prosecutors announced the reopened inquiry. Several public figures, including actress Florence Pugh, have spoken out about it, adding to scrutiny of how universities and local authorities respond to campus sexual assault allegations.

The matter now rests with the grand jury process, which will determine whether the evidence supports criminal charges and, if so, what those charges should be.