The alleged victim filed the suit, which has caused a New York prosecutor to reopen an investigation
A former Cornell University student has sued the university, a New York bar, the Chi Phi fraternity, and the seven fraternity members who reportedly sexually assaulted her in 2024, reported The Associated Press.
The filing of the suit on September 16 has prompted Tompkins County district attorney Matthew Van Houten to reopen an investigation into the incident. The renewed focus on the case has also drawn widespread attention, including that of significant names like actors Florence Pugh and Josh Gad.
The alleged victim of the incident, who took the moniker Jane Doe, claimed that she was pushed to take the drug ketamine, smoke marijuana, and ingest alcohol while at the Chi Phi fraternity house on Cornell University’s New York campus in Ithaca in October 2024. As a result, she said she was incapacitated while the seven fraternity members named in the suit sexually assaulted her.
At the time, Jane Doe was 20 years old and a member of a sorority. She approached campus police approximately three weeks after the incident took place. That day, the Chi Phi fraternity was temporarily suspended, as were the alleged perpetrators of the assault.
However, Jane Doe claimed that the fraternity members were allowed “the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell,” per a snippet of the suit published by AP News. She claimed that Cornell University did not prevent the supposed incident and did not appropriately handle the issue of sexual violence on campus.
Cornell University countered that it had launched an internal disciplinary investigation that year, during which Jane Doe and the accused students could give evidence and testify before trained faculty and staff. The university said it shut down the Chi Phi chapter on campus, expelled some students, and suspended others.
However, it could not disclose student information as per federal privacy law.
“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false. A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault,” Cornell University said in a statement published by AP News.
Van Houten said Jane Doe did not make allegations of gang rape or of being drugged in her initial sworn statement. He added that her attorney did not reach out to him regarding her statement or about rethinking the decision to not pursue prosecution.
The prosecutor said his office would give evidence to a grand jury.
“Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence. I have been asked by the community to revisit the decision whether to pursue criminal charges against the seven fraternity members. I have already begun that process, starting with our conversation with Jane Doe and her attorneys,” Van Houten said in a statement published by AP News.
Jane Doe’s suit included a photo that reportedly displayed a group chat where fraternity members were exchanging messages about the incident, which New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said reflected “a culture of rape” shielded at prestigious institutions, per a statement published by AP News.
Pugh also called out the incident on Instagram.
“Colleges/schools/universities repeatedly fail women around the world. You build men that get taught through time and time again that they can do extreme harm and that they won’t be harmed in return,” the actor wrote in a snippet of the post published by The Hollywood Reporter. “Those that protect and lightly sentence men that rape and destroy, should be punished and watched closely. Why are you protecting someone that fiercely?”
After the post went up, Pugh revealed that she and some followers could no longer access it. Users reported getting a sensitive content warning while trying to read the post.
Meanwhile, Gad wrote in a post that incident was “sending a profoundly disturbing message with our inability to hold anyone accountable that this is OK.”
“This isn’t an Oopsie daisy. This is a destruction of life,” Gad wrote in a snippet of the post published by The Hollywood Reporter.
