ITHACA, NY – Cornell University students who are critical of their school’s handling of sexual assault cases are holding a string of protests this week and calling on the university to make changes, including by providing trauma-informed training for campus police.
As the sun set on Oct. 5, students, professors and others filled an outdoor plaza on campus. Others lined nearby walkways and stood atop a hill overlooking where protesters spoke, shading their eyes to see through the glare. Some wore purple ribbons.
They also carried signs declaring, “We want sentences, not essays,” or asking, “How many more”? They yelled “shame” at mentions of the university’s handling of sexual assault cases. And they chanted “No justice, no peace.”
“It's really clear
in all of the responses that the administrators have made is that they are not treating this as an endemic issue,” said Jack Huber of Indianapolis, 19, a sophomore and a member of Students for a Democratic Cornell, which helped organize the protest.
Frustration boiled over here early on Oct. 5, when someone spray-painted a university building and smashed its windows, protesting a “morally corrupt system," according to the student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun.
The vandalism followed the filing of a Sept. 16 lawsuit by a young woman known anonymously as Jane Doe. It alleges she was gang-raped on Oct. 19, 2024, by members of Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity while being too intoxicated to consent and after being pressured into taking ketamine.
The lawsuit names seven then-fraternity members, Cornell University, the Chi Phi fraternity and others. All seven fraternity members denied the allegations during the university's investigation.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced last month his office would reopen the case. And Gov. Kathy Hochul has appointed New York State Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor who will investigate the allegations.
More than 1,200 incidents of sexual assault, dating and domestic violence and stalking were reported to Cornell's Title IX office from 2018 through 2024, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data the school reported to New York state.
In a video statement published Oct. 3, Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff called the assault allegations “deeply disturbing” and “a defining moment” in Cornell’s history. He said Cornell’s Board of Trustees will soon announce an independent review by an outside law firm into the university’s handling of the 2024 case. He also said the university planned to evaluate the roll of Greek organizations on campus.
Meanwhile, thousands of Cornell students were expected to participate in the campus rally on Oct. 5, organized by more than 20 student organizations. Some among the demonstrators who showed up wore name tags identifying themselves as "Jane Doe."
“We wanted to bring everybody into this fight,” Huber said. “Despite the fact that many students are scared to protest, I can promise you there will be thousands showing out and marching for Jane Doe.”
More related events have been planned for the coming days. The university’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action chapter and its Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program have planned an Oct. 6 town hall about sexual violence on campus.
“Come ready to build what comes next,” they said in a social media post advertising the event.
On Wednesday, Oct. 7, the Cornell NAACP chapter is organizing an economic boycott and a seven-hour sit-in at one of the campus dining halls.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wave of student activism spreads at Cornell after rape allegations
