§ 03
Developments in the case in date order. Each entry is marked by the kind of source it comes from.
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According to a civil complaint filed in 2026, a Cornell student identified in court papers as Jane Doe was drugged and sexually assaulted by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity at the chapter house overnight. These allegations have not been established in court.
Sources: The Ithaca Voice, CBC News
According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe reported the incident to Cornell University Police on or about November 8, 2024, a few weeks after the alleged assault. The Tompkins County District Attorney's Office says it received a sworn statement from her in November 2024.
Sources: NewsNation via ABC27, The Ithaca Voice
On November 26, 2024, Cornell said the Chi Phi chapter had been under a temporary suspension order since November 8, 2024, for alleged violations of the Student Code of Conduct, and that temporary suspensions had been issued for a number of students as interim measures. Cornell has since said its Office of Civil Rights and Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards investigated and adjudicated the allegations over several months, and that the chapter was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus. The lawsuit alleges that Cornell's Title IX hearings took place in May 2025.
Sources: Cornell statement, November 26, 2024, Cornell statement, September 21, 2026, Cornell statement, September 28, 2026, Snopes via Yahoo News
The District Attorney's Office reviewed information from Cornell University Police and did not file charges. The District Attorney has since said the plaintiff's sworn statement at the time did not establish a lack of consent under state law, and that the decision was based on the information his office had then.
Sources: Snopes via Yahoo News, The Ithaca Voice
Jane Doe files a 101-page civil complaint in New York County Supreme Court. It names Cornell University, seven current and former students, fraternity and sorority organizations, and others, including a local bar. Reports differ on the filing date: some give September 14, the date on which the complaint is signed.
Sources: The Ithaca Voice, CBC News. We do not link to the complaint itself because it contains details that could identify the plaintiff.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announces his office is reopening the case and will present it to a grand jury. The office says the sworn statement it received in November 2024 differs substantially from the allegations in the civil complaint.
Sources: The Washington Post, The Ithaca Voice
Cornell says it supports the District Attorney's decision to take the case to a grand jury.
Sources: Cornell statement, September 28, 2026, NewsNation via ABC27
The complaint alleges the students were temporarily suspended and allowed to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays. Cornell says none of them were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence, and that a hearing panel issued sanctions that included expulsions and suspensions. Cornell has not said which students received which sanctions, and the specific sanctions have not been independently verified.
Sources: Cornell statement, September 28, 2026, USA Herald, Snopes via Yahoo News
Cornell publishes a list of questions and answers about its response, in an email signed by President Michael I. Kotlikoff, Provost Kavita Bala, and Board of Trustees chair Anne Meinig Smalling. It answers "No" to whether involved students "only had to write essays," and says it "imposed different sanctions based on the findings and circumstances involving each student," and that federal privacy law prevents it from giving "an individual-by-individual account." It also says Cornell University Police provided the Snapchat screenshot to the District Attorney "as part of the evidence supplied" in November 2024, which conflicts with what the District Attorney told ABC News. Cornell updated the page on September 30.
Sources: Cornell FAQ, updated September 30, 2026, The Cornell Daily Sun
At a meeting with student government, President Michael I. Kotlikoff says two of the accused students were expelled, two were suspended for at least two semesters, one graduated before any sanction could be imposed, and two were found not responsible for sexual misconduct, according to CBS News. He did not say which student received which outcome. Cornell has not published these figures in a written statement.
Source: CBS News
New York Governor Kathy Hochul calls for "outside counsel to conduct a transparent, independent review of the university's response to determine whether Cornell met every obligation to protect its students and pursue justice." She says she supports the District Attorney's decision to reopen the criminal investigation. A Cornell spokesperson says the university "shares Governor Hochul's commitment to addressing campus culture issues."
Sources: ABC News, The Cornell Daily Sun
A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James says the office is reviewing Cornell's response to the allegations, according to CNN. The office has not said what the review covers or what action, if any, it could take.
Source: CNN
CBS News reports that it obtained, from a source, a transcript of the plaintiff's 2024 interview with Cornell University Police, which it says was the basis for her written statement. In it, according to CBS News, she says, "I can say with 100% confidence I was raped." District Attorney Matthew Van Houten tells CBS News that his office was never given the full interview transcripts, and that the sworn statement it received in November 2024 did not include that remark. We have not seen the transcript.
Source: CBS News