Scott Norris, a Canandaigua native and one of seven men named in a civil lawsuit alleging a sexual assault at a Cornell University fraternity house in 2024, has publicly denied participating in sexual activity or drug use during the incident.
Norris is among seven young men named as defendants in a lawsuit filed by a former Cornell student identified as Jane Doe. The lawsuit alleges the woman was drugged and sexually assaulted by multiple members of Cornell University's Chi Phi fraternity at its Ithaca chapter house in October 2024.
According to the complaint, Norris was among seven fraternity members alleged to have participated in events inside the fraternity house while the plaintiff - a 20-year-old woman and Cornell student - was incapacitated.
The lawsuit specifically alleges that Norris and six other defendants poured lines of ketamine on the plaintiff's body and snorted them. The complaint further alleges Norris later left the room with several other defendants.
In a statement provided to the Democrat and Chronicle through his family, Scott Norris denied participating in sexual activity or drug use during the incident. The statement is consistent with one ABC News attributed to Norris' attorney. The allegations against him have not been proven in court.
The allegations have drawn national attention, prompted renewed scrutiny of the case, led New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to appoint state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor and generated responses from Cornell University, Chi Phi fraternity and several public figures.
No criminal charges have been filed as of Oct. 2.
Norris denies participating in alleged misconduct
In the statement provided to the Democrat and Chronicle, Norris denied engaging in sexual activity or drug use during the events described in the lawsuit.
"I did not participate in any sexual activity or drug use. I was not found responsible by Cornell for any of the accusations involving sexual activity and drug use for which others received serious consequences," Norris said through an attorney.
He added that he "thoughtlessly engaged in Snapchat and briefly stopped in the room where misconduct happened but not when it happened."
Norris is represented by the law firm of Bloch & White LLP based in New York City, according to the family. A request for comment sent to the firm was not immediately returned.
What the lawsuit alleges
The lawsuit, filed in September 2026, alleges a 20-year-old Cornell student visited the Chi Phi fraternity house on the night of Oct. 19, 2024.
According to the complaint, she was intoxicated and was pressured into taking what she believed was ketamine before being sexually assaulted.
The complaint alleges fraternity members discussed the woman's condition in group messages and encouraged others to go to an upstairs room where she was incapacitated.
The woman is suing the seven named defendants as well as Cornell University, local and national Chi Phi organizations, local and national Tri Delta organizations and an Ithaca bar, Moonies Bar and Nightclub. Jane Doe, according to the complaint, was a member of Tri Delta sorority and had frequented Moonies near the start of the evening in question.
The allegations remain allegations in a civil lawsuit and have not been proven in court.
Criminal investigation and special prosecutor
After the civil lawsuit was filed, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced prosecutors would revisit the allegations and prepare evidence for presentation to a grand jury.
Van Houten said the decision followed the filing of the lawsuit, which contained allegations and information that differed from what prosecutors reviewed in 2024.
"Once we determine the appropriate charges, the case will be prosecuted in the most objective and impartial means available — by testimony to the Tompkins County Grand Jury," Van Houten said.
Van Houten also defended the earlier decision not to file charges based on the information available at the time. He said the woman's initial account to investigators characterized her drug use and sexual contact as voluntary and argued the earlier decision not to prosecute was legally correct based on the evidence available at the time.
On Oct. 1, Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the case.
In announcing the move, Hochul said newly released information had raised "serious questions" about the investigation conducted by Cornell Police and the earlier decision not to prosecute.
"As special prosecutor, the Attorney General will investigate this incident and, if warranted, prosecute any offenses arising from that investigation and present evidence to a grand jury," Hochul said in a statement.
Some of the information that became public after the lawsuit was filed came from materials prepared as part of Cornell's Title IX administrative process.
What the university report revealed
The report, prepared for Cornell's Title IX administrative hearing process and obtained by several media outlets, including The New York Times, NBC News and CBS News, reportedly totaled more than 1,000 pages and included a transcript of Jane Doe's hourslong interview with Cornell police conducted nearly a month after the alleged assault.
During that interview, Jane Doe said, "I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped" and, at another point, "There was really no escape." She also told investigators she was "completely and totally incapacitated."
Transcripts of Title IX interviews with six of the seven men named in the lawsuit also included their accounts of the encounter. According to reporting by The New York Times, the men denied the allegations against them and said the sexual activity was consensual, with some claiming Jane Doe initiated portions of the encounter.
The Times also reported that some of the men described aspects of the encounter as troubling or concerning. One of the men, identified in the report by the initials S.N., said he entered the room because he was concerned about what was happening.
"I was genuinely concerned and wanted to investigate what's going on," S.N. told investigators, according to The Times. When later asked what he thought would happen after he left the room, he responded, "I thought they were just going to continue conversating."
Norris was the only defendant named in the lawsuit with those initials.
The report also documented that Jane Doe photographed injuries she said she sustained and sought medical treatment at Cornell Health for what appeared to be an infection she believed resulted from the alleged assault.
According to a New York Times report, Cornell later summarized the Title IX materials in a six-page report provided to prosecutors. The Times reported that the summary did not include Jane Doe's statement that she had been raped.
Cornell and Chi Phi respond
Cornell University has supported renewed review of the case while pointing to its own Title IX process and disciplinary proceedings.
University leaders called the allegations "appalling" and "deeply troubling" in a statement released this week.
According to Cornell, the accused students were temporarily suspended during university proceedings. Following a hearing process, sanctions included suspensions and expulsions, though the university has not publicly identified which students received specific sanctions, citing federal privacy laws.
Cornell's Chi Phi chapter was suspended in 2024 and remains barred from campus.
Chi Phi's national organization said members of the Cornell chapter voted to remove the accused students from membership three days after the woman reported the alleged assault to Cornell police. The national fraternity said it later permanently expelled those members.
"It should not need to be said, but we will say it plainly: Chi Phi condemns sexual assault and drug and alcohol abuse in the strongest possible terms," interim Executive Director Trey Robb said in a statement.
Public figures speak out
Florence Pugh, Josh Gad, Mariska Hargitay and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are among those who have spoken out about allegations that seven Cornell Chi Phi fraternity members sexually assaulted and raped a former student in 2024.
Pugh said she felt “uneasy and sick and anxious” after reading about the allegations and called on men to speak out. “There is no equality until you respect our bodies,” Pugh wrote. “There is no equality until we can say we feel safe.”
Gad also criticized what he described as a lack of accountability, calling the alleged conduct a “violent and sick criminal act.”
Hargitay, an actress on Law and Order: SVU and an advocate for sexual assault victims, outlined points on the case and noted: "The Cornell Daily Sun (the university's student newspaper) is demanding answers and accountability, and so are we."
Ocasio-Cortez addressed the allegations during a town hall in Ithaca on Sunday, condemning what she described as a “culture of rape” at elite institutions, including Cornell. She said the former student “lost her education because you can’t stay in school when something like that happens to you,” and criticized the institution for what she described as protecting the men involved.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Canandaigua native denies Cornell lawsuit allegations
