ITHACA, New York - Cornell University announced on Oct. 6 that it has retained Sally Yates, the former acting attorney general of the United States, to review its sexual assault policies and procedures, in the wake of a lawsuit brought by an anonymous former student alleging she was raped by members of a Cornell fraternity.
Yates as part of her review will also look into how the university responded to the report made in 2024 by the student, known only as Jane Doe, the university said.
“It is imperative that Cornell be willing to examine itself with the same rigor we expect of others. We want to understand not just what happened in 2024, but how Cornell can become a leader in preventing sexual violence, supporting those who come forward and responding
to allegations rigorously, fairly and compassionately," said Anne Meinig Smalling, the chair of a newly formed special committee of Cornell's board of trustees, in a statement.
Yates served as deputy attorney general of the United States under former President Barack Obama, and was interim attorney general for just days until she was dismissed by President Donald Trump at the start of his first term in office for refusing to carry out his executive order banning travelers to the United States from certain Muslim-majority countries.
Jane Doe in her lawsuit accused seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity of sexually assaulting her in 2024. None were ever charged with a crime, after Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said Jane Doe's statements to police weren't evidence the men had broken the law. He said in light of the suit filed last month he would look into the matter again. All seven fraternity members denied the allegations during the university's investigation.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James to lead the criminal investigation. The announcement came after Van Houten said he would reopen the investigation and present the case to a grand jury.
Cornell professor says experts, stakeholders must be included
When Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff initially announced plans to conduct an independent review on Oct. 3, before Yates was hired, students and faculty criticized the administration for not doing enough.
Risa L. Lieberwitz, a professor of labor and employment law and a member of the faculty senate, said hiring an investigator and creating a task force to review university policies wouldn’t necessarily lead to the institutional change community members are pushing for.
Campus stakeholders, including students and faculty, must be brought into formal conversations too, she said.
“We have experts who've been working for years and years and years on these issues of gender violence,” Lieberwitz said. “They know how to do this through education and training.”
“We can also bring in experts from the outside who do this kind of work,” she added. “That's not only what's needed to actually make institutional change, but it's needed for the administration of the university to be credible.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cornell says Sally Yates will lead an independent sex abuse review
