A Tompkins County prosecutor is reopening an investigation into an alleged gang rape at a fraternity house on Cornell University's campus in 2024 after a civil lawsuit regarding the incident was filed recently.
The lawsuit, which was filed in New York County Supreme Court on Sept. 14, alleges seven members of the Xi Chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity on Cornell's campus sexually assaulted and raped a then 20-year-old woman inside the fraternity house in October 2024. The woman, who is referred to by officials as Jane Doe, reported the incident several weeks after the incident, but no criminal charges were filed.
In a statement on Monday, Sept. 28, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said his office is revisiting that decision after
learning about the lawsuit on Sept. 18 and receiving many calls, voicemails and emails in recent weeks.
"Given the lawsuit's graphic allegations of criminal conduct, the question of why those individuals were not criminally prosecuted has been raised," Van Houten said, defending his decision not to initially pursue criminal charges against those involved.
"Jane Doe's sworn statement in November of 2024 did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped," he continued. "On the contrary, Jane Doe's statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual. My office obviously did not and could not have based our November 2024 decision on the allegations in a civil lawsuit that would not be filed until nearly two years later."
But, Van Houten stressed, the woman's credibility was "never in question."
"One of the hardest but most important parts of a prosecutor's job is being constrained to consider only the admissible evidence and information provided by a victim to strictly apply those facts to the applicable laws," Van Houten later added.
"At the same time, I recognize 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," he said.
Here's what to know about the lawsuit.
What does the lawsuit allege?
Jane Doe was a full-time undergraduate student attending Cornell and living at the Alpha Beta Chapter of the Tri-Delta Sorority's house on the university's campus at the time of the alleged incident, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit asserts that a number of events led to the incident, including:
- Her house mother observed her in an intoxicated state and took her to an event at Moonies Bar & Nightclub in downtown Ithaca on Oct. 19, 2024.
- Moonies employees served her alcohol "to the point of visible intoxication," despite her being underaged.
- She was supplied alcohol and drugs, including ketamine, to the point of intoxication by Chi Phi members at the Chi Phi house.
The lawsuit alleges multiple Chi Phi members then sexually assaulted and raped the victim for several hours. A Snapchat message discussing the incident was also sent to a Xi Chapter's group chat in the early hours of Oct. 20, 2024, according to the lawsuit.
The incident became public knowledge on Cornell's campus the following day, the lawsuit specifies, and Jane Doe reported it to the Cornell University Police Department on Nov. 8, 2024, the lawsuit notes. The Xi Chapter was placed on temporary suspension as well as the seven members alleged to be involved, "who were afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell," the lawsuit adds.
Ithaca Police Department in a statement on Monday asserted the 2024 incident "was not reported to the Ithaca Police Department," noting the law enforcement agency was "disturbed" to learn about the allegations recently "through the media."
In a statement released by the university on Monday, Cornell University's Vice President for University Relations Kyle Kimball says they conducted a "thorough" Title IX investigation. At its conclusion, the university then had a panel of trained faculty and staff examine the evidence, which "issued a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell."
Kimball stressed nobody was offered to write an essay "as a sole consequence of their involvement," and the Xi Chapter has been barred from campus since 2024.
"Cornell University supports the decision of the Tompkins County District Attorney to provide an opportunity for the victim’s story in the 2024 Chi Phi fraternity sexual assault case to be heard by a criminal grand jury," Kimball's statement says.
"Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false," Kimball later said. "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."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addresses lawsuit during Ithaca visit
In a visit to Ithaca on Sunday, Sept. 27, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addressed the lawsuit at the start of a "Students vs. Billionaires" town hall she was holding inside the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center.
"I want to address one of the most pressing issues that we've seen come out of Ithaca just this past week," Ocasio-Cortez said.
The democratic socialist congresswoman condemned the "culture of rape, sexual assault and pedophilia" that is "protected in elite institutions," specifically naming Cornell, and said two of those named in the lawsuit have been expelled. In a previous statement shared by the university, Kimball said they can't make a public statement on the specifics of their disciplinary response due to federal privacy law.
"When I read about what happened at Cornell, those men posted in a group chat," Ocasio-Cortez said. "That means that it was normal to them. That means it was acceptable to them. This is a culture, this is norms, these are practices. And what we must do is understand that we cannot protect those spaces anymore."
"The fact that (Jane Doe) had to lose her education and those men were protected by an institution and granted an Ivy League degree as a reward? Never again," she stressed.
Tompkins County DA previously defended decision in 2019 Cornell student's death
It's not the first time Van Houten has publicly defended his office's decision to not pursue criminal charges in an incident involving Cornell University.
Cornell freshman Antonio Tsialas was found dead in a gorge at Fall Creek in 2019 after attending a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity party. Cornell University police ruled his death accidental as they said he fell into the gorge, but his family has unanswered questions.
The university paid an undisclosed amount of money to Tsialas' family as part of a settlement, which ended a civil lawsuit they filed claiming a Christmas-themed hazing ritual played a role in his death.
At the time, Van Houten said using a grand jury would be frivolous and unsupported by the evidence and that the case failed to rise to the level of hazing-related criminal charges. The fraternity involved in that incident has had its recognition on campus permanently revoked.
Emily Barnes covers state government for the USA TODAY Network-New York with a focus on how policy and laws impact New Yorkers' taxes, communities and jobs. Follow her on Instagram or X @byemilybarnes. Get in touch at ebarnes@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY prosecutor reopens investigation of Cornell 'gang rape' allegations
