By Betty Kaldas
On Monday, Sept. 28, New York prosecutors reopened the investigation of an alleged gang rape that occured two years ago on Cornell University’s campus.
On Oct. 19, 2024, a woman attended a party which took place at Chi Phi fraternity house located on the Cornell campus. The woman alleges that she was drugged with ketamine and pressured into consuming alcohol, before being assaulted and raped by seven different men over the course of several hours.
The woman, identified as Jane Doe, filed the civil lawsuit earlier this month, resulting in County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten to reopen the case and proceed with plans to present it to a grand jury. Following the report filed by Jane Doe and the consequent investigation, the criminal case was reviewed and eventually dismissed due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
While all seven men included in the case were removed from the Chi Phi fraternity through a unanimous vote, only two of the seven were expelled from Cornell. The remaining five were instructed to write essays as their punishment.
Deemed the “Cornell 7” by social media posts and videos, the disciplinary action taken for the men involved sparked outrage online as many expressed their disapproval.
“There’s a lot of anger and frustration. And there is a strong opinion on campus that these seven men should have faced more investigation and possibly more punishment.” said Brian Mann, a reporter for NPR News.
When the incident initially occurred in 2024, reporters at Cornell’s campus newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun, rushed to cover the case. Senior editor Cereese Qusba and editor-in-chief Sophia Dasser collaborated on the story throughout the weeks following the alleged rape. In an editorial published last week, named “Cornell Won’t, We Will,” the Cornell Daily Sun explicitly stated the names of the seven men involved, being one of the only news outlets to do so.
“At the end of the day, we settled on the fact that, as student journalists, our responsibility to the campus community is shining light on the opaque parts, on the dark corners of Cornell,” said Dasser in an interview conducted by the Cut. “The outrage was really sourced in the fact that no one knew what was going on for 23 months.”
The incident has sparked agitation on campus and online, but has also raised tremendous awareness on the topic of sexual assault and consent.
“I think that we’re seeing students come together now to stand up for victims of sexual violence and put up a unified front to say, hey, we as a student body do not condone this whatsoever, and we stand with all victims of sexual violence.” said Cornell student body president Eeshaan Chaudhuri in an interview with NBC News.
As the atmosphere on the Cornell campus remains tense, a grand jury is estimated to hear the case in approximately 45 days under a state attorney.
This is a developing story. Baron Banner will update this page with updates as we receive them.
