A woman who alleges she was gang-raped at a Cornell University fraternity house in October 2024 told the school's investigators that she "felt like bait" as her attackers were "like lions around me." Records from Cornell's disciplinary investigation, reviewed by The Associated Press, detail the woman's account and the university's handling of the case.
The documents, heavily redacted, provide a fuller but sometimes conflicting timeline of events. They also offer insight into responses from the men accused, some of whom disputed the woman's account and denied involvement in any assault. The woman, identified as Jane Doe in court papers, sued Cornell and seven former students last month, alleging she was given ketamine and repeatedly assaulted.
Jane Doe reported the incident to campus police three weeks after the encounter, providing a detailed account. However, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten reviewed a police summary of her interview and decided not to file criminal charges or pursue further investigation.
Only the university's internal investigation, conducted under federal Title IX law, moved forward. Its primary goal was to determine disciplinary actions for the students involved. This week, a lawyer representing one of the accused men filed documents from the school's investigation as part of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the university's punishment and remove it from his academic record.
These court filings include a 99-page report detailing the campus hearing panel's disciplinary findings and a summary of events prepared by the university's lawyers. While these records represent only a fraction of the thousands of pages accumulated during the inquiry, they illustrate the extensive nature of the university's efforts.
The university's investigation encompassed 50 interviews with 32 witnesses and involved 12 days of hearings. According to the Title IX documents filed in court, the woman and several of the accused men provided investigators with similar accounts regarding drug use and sexual activity that occurred at the Chi Phi fraternity house.
However, their accounts diverged sharply on the issue of consent. The disciplinary panel's findings indicate the woman had been invited to the fraternity house by a member for whom she held strong romantic feelings and sexual interest. The panel found she initially consented to sex with that specific fraternity member.
Governor Hochul appointed Attorney General James as special prosecutor late Thursday, publicly stating she had lost faith in Van Houten's handling of the case. The move shifts the criminal investigation from local authorities to the state's highest legal office.
