In a public statement released Monday, District Attorney Matt Van Houten said that he found out on Sept. 18 about a civil lawsuit filed by a former Cornell student, who says she was drugged and raped by Chi Phi fraternity members at a party in 2024.

“In November of 2024, the Cornell University Police Department (CUPD) informed the DA’s Office of their investigation in this case and asked us to review a statement provided by Jane Doe to determine if her allegations constituted a crime under New York law. Law enforcement agencies commonly consult with us on questions of evidence, matters of law, and potential charges, if any,” Van Houten wrote.

No charges were filed against the 7 male students at the time. Van Houten says Jane Doe’s initial statements to campus police provided a “different narrative and set of facts of the events of October 19, 2024 than those alleged in the lawsuit.”

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Tompkins County DA to re-open alleged gang rape case at C...

District Attorney Matt Van Houten says a grand jury will be presented with evidence in the case involving 7 Cornell students.

Interesting that 2 years later she files the civil case. I'm sure the statute of limitations is about up which is why it's being done now.

I've seen this on the news and social media for the last few weeks and was kind of confused as to why initially no criminal charges. I have seen updates indicating there wasn't enough evidence for criminal charges at the time. Now there is new info through a civil lawsuit? Seems off to me.

There could have been a time restraint for her to file the civil lawsuits, but I believe criminal statutes of limitations vary by the severity of the crime.

It might be two years for something like petty theft, but I think for rape and murder it’s basically indefinite. Harvey Weinstein was charged for stuff that occurred all the back to the 1990s. 

Obviously, media and public outrage was a catalyst....however, I suspect that the “new” development for the DA was that they never actually interviewed the victim in 2024, and just relied on limited info that the Campus Cops reported.   

That should never have been the case. Campus police are considered “peace officers”....but not fully sworn law enforcement police officers. 

I wouldn’t entrust them to investigate any serious crime. Their job mission is more to protect reputations and refer misbehavior to administration for academic review and discipline....not criminal justice.

2 hours ago, KarenK said:

Interesting that 2 years later she files the civil case.

Could be a lot of reasons for that, including LOTS of therapy to get to this point.

I saw a pic of the alleged Snapchat message that went out to everyone and that alone is absolutely disgusting to me. Nevermind that throughout what is alleged, not one single person had the decency to say, "Hey, hold on a minute" and do the right thing.

37 minutes ago, Chris said:

Could be a lot of reasons for that, including LOTS of therapy to get to this point.

I saw a pic of the alleged Snapchat message that went out to everyone and that alone is absolutely disgusting to me. Nevermind that throughout what is alleged, not one single person had the decency to say, "Hey, hold on a minute" and do the right thing.

So far, it sounds like Cornell hadn’t shared that alleged group text with the DA.  So they relied on the assumption of a thorough/complete investigation and report by Campus cops.  

It’s possible that the chat was only recently discovered....or that Cornell had simply made their own conclusion that it wasn’t “relevant” enough to include in their report.

 

Also....I saw one statement from the DA that said they originally received a statement that indicated the victim said her alcohol, drug use, partying etc were voluntary. 

That statement by the victim was what the DA received from campus police...the DA didn’t interview her themselves, nor request LEO investigation from Ithaca PD or Tomkins Sheriff or NYSP.  

 

In general....I personally have some reservations and skepticism of the law that says being drunk/high by one’s own choice means they are unable to consent to sex (but are completely accountable and legally responsible for any other behaviors they engage in while under the influence).

It’s also a weird paradox because in most cases.....the parties involved could all be too wasted to form consent (yet curiously, only one participant’s actions are nonconsensual; the other is guilty of a crime). 

However... whether someone is drunk/high is obviously not the same as being unconscious. Which is why I do think a real police investigation should have been conducted to help establish the presence or absence of consent.  

I haven’t seen that chat thread, but it sounds like it may very well show that one or more participants were indeed sober/aware enough to recognize if she truly wasn’t able to consent.     

Edited September 28Sep 28 by MsKreed

Yea, I haven't seen the chat thread either but see alot of people talking about it, so not sure where they saw it or if its just the a friend of a friend of a friend saw it type of thing. Seems like that being released suddenly would be compromising the investigation right up front.

The DA released a lengthy statement that includes the explicit details of the accuser's six page sworn statement in 2024, and explanation of why they determined that her account did not describe criminal sexual assault.

Yikes! The excerpts are disturbingly vivid.

But it honestly doesn't seem like the DA's failure to prosecute was a dismissive "she didn't say no" argument. She narrated her consent and willing participation with remarkable detail....and basically said that whenever she resisted some 'request' or asked to stop, they stopped.

https://www.tompkinscountyny.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/district-attorney/documents/district-attorney-public-statement-9-28-26.pdf

There's still no mention of the contents of the group chat.

But I simply can't fathom why/how no one faced charges for serious drug consumption and possession....and for providing alcohol to someone under 21.

Here’s what I’ve seen of the group chat:

10 minutes ago, MsKreed said:

Yikes! The excerpts are disturbingly vivid.

Geezus…

12 minutes ago, MsKreed said:

But it honestly doesn't seem like the DA's failure to prosecute was a dismissive "she didn't say no" argument. She narrated her consent and willing participation with remarkable detail....and basically said that whenever she resisted some 'request' or asked to stop, they stopped.

Yeah this definitely muddies the waters a little. Reading that, it looks to me like they were all messed up on drugs and alcohol, and it was consensual. At least as consensual as anything can be when everyone is in that state.

Edit: That is, if campus police took down her statement correctly.

( Which is a whole other area of conversation. I mean, good God people… )

42 minutes ago, Chris said:

Edit: That is, if campus police took down her statement correctly.

( Which is a whole other area of conversation. I mean, good God people… )

The DA asserts that she read and signed it...which was presumably sometime after she sobered up.

On a separate note....for me, Cornell’s official response is more alarming than the DA’s actions: 

The Cornell Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards investigated and adjudicated the allegations consistent with university policies. The Xi chapter of Chi Phi fraternity remains barred from our campus. Federal privacy law prohibits Cornell from disclosing specific information regarding individual students and we therefore are unable to make a public statement on any other disciplinary response. Violations of university policies could lead to sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion. We will respond in detail through the legal process.  

They can shove their “Student Conduct and Community Standards” and university policies where the sun don’t shine. 

Who the f*ck are they to permit criminal behavior by students and then hide behind privacy laws? Those laws exist to protect personal academic records....not felony activity.

This case is a particularly gross example, but the premise has been accepted on college campuses for decades. 

Whether it’s vehicles break-ins, serving alcohol to minors or fist-fight assault charges.....investigations by campus “police” have always largely been internal administrative reviews and not LEO actions. As shown here, their findings are protected under “disciplinary” actions. Any consequences are classified as “private academic records”....treated the same as cheating on a test. 

Leave Jane Doe’s allegations of rape/consent out of it, and it’s still inexcusable. If any ordinary citizen were caught serving alcohol to someone underage, let alone illegally distributing a controlled substance like ketamine.... a real law enforcement agency would send their asses to jail instead of ignoring it to protect the perpetrator’s “promising future”.  

When I last checked, Cornell is still located within the borders of State New York State and ought to be subject to the same laws as the rest of us. I can’t think of any other institution or entity that can declare their own sovereignty and exempt their members (who provide revenue) from criminal laws.   

Colleges have always openly been permitted to conceal and tolerate criminal behavior to protect their reputation and revenue. Campus mall cops shouldn't be allowed to 'investigate' crimes and sweep illicit behavior under a rug.

8 minutes ago, MsKreed said:

The DA asserts that she read and signed it...which was presumably sometime after she sobered up.

Yeah I read that after the above post.

I’ve been reading about this on Reddit as well, specifically r/Ithaca, and the opinions there are split down the middle, possibly skewing towards “it was consensual.”

Public backlash continues after a civil lawsuit alleged that seven fraternity members drugged and sexually assaulted a Cornell University student in 2024.

CBS News New York reported Wednesday that it had obtained a transcript of an interview between a Cornell University Police Department (CUPD) investigator and the alleged victim, referred to as Jane Doe.

According to reporting from CBS, the transcript shows that Doe told the investigator “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped."

The Tompkins County district attorney reopened the case this week. Now, he says “if factual, it [the transcript] certainly would have changed our investigation” in 2024.

Van Houten previously said that the 2024 statement taken by police did not include allegations that constituted a crime.

He said he is in the process of getting that transcript from Cornell. He says he does not know when he will get the transcript from the university “or if Cornell will resist turning it over.”

“If it’s factual, we absolutely should have been informed about what Jane Doe said to police that was not in her 6 page statement,” he said in an email to WSKG.

Source

On 9/28/2026 at 2:50 PM, MsKreed said:

Obviously, media and public outrage was a catalyst....however, I suspect that the “new” development for the DA was that they never actually interviewed the victim in 2024, and just relied on limited info that the Campus Cops reported.   

That should never have been the case. Campus police are considered “peace officers”....but not fully sworn law enforcement police officers. 

I wouldn’t entrust them to investigate any serious crime. Their job mission is more to protect reputations and refer misbehavior to administration for academic review and discipline....not criminal justice.

I stand by this earlier assessment.

Campus Police can't be allowed to act as arbiters of internal "policy and conduct" for the institution that employs them.....and still be trusted to act as an objective law enforcement agency. To date.....there's been no mention of any legal investigation into underage drinking or narcotics charges.

If nothing else comes of this whole story....I hope that colleges everywhere are forced to make changes. We need assurance that going forward, all criminal complaints will be handled by actual law enforcement bodies who are public servants with no risk of conflicts of interest.

I will also add.....the only complete document that's been made available to the public in its entirety is the current 2026 civil suit.

The DA has quoted the six-page signed statement his office received from CUPD. But since that statement hasn't been published, we can't know if there were points that he may have left out. Likewise, news outlets have quoted the transcript without releasing the actual document.....so we can't know if there were points that they may have left out.

If these news outlets aren't going to share the complete source material for the public to draw their own informed opinions...then they should kindly STFU with the selective disclosures.

Edited October 1Oct 1 by MsKreed

There is a LOT of posturing and “calls to action” out there on social media. In the court of public opinion, those guys are guilty as hell and the masses want their lives destroyed RFN.

I, on the other hand, recall hearing something like this in the media before .

I admit to being pretty disgusted when the news first broke, particularly with that group chat text. Reading the statement given to campus police, while perhaps not a slam dunk for the defense, gave me enough pause to remember the Duke case and think about it more objectively. And hey, if they’re guilty, then punish them accordingly.

Either way, doxxing those young men before there’s even a thorough investigation, is complete bullshit.

Yeah those "calls to action" and doxxing are resulting in death threats.....including this poor guy and his family who committed the "crime" of having the same name as one of the accused.

There is also a hashatag out there #cornellcollege which is a completely different school.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday said she has appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to investigate the alleged rape case at a Cornell University frat house, noting the lack of prosecution by the Tompkins County District Attorney had “undercut” her faith in the office.

“Newly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation conducted by the Cornell Police Department and the decision by the Tompkins County District Attorney not to prosecute an alleged sexual assault on Cornell University's campus in October 2024,” Hochul said in statement. “This has, in turn, undercut my faith, and the public's faith, in the District Attorney’s ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time.”

Hochul said she issued an executive order appointing James, who will investigate the incident and if warranted, will prosecute any offenses.

Source

Make it make sense.

According to an archived page of CUPD’s Daily Crime Log, CUPD found drugs at the Chi Phi house just hours before Jane Doe’s alleged drugging and sexual assault.

On Oct. 19, 2024 at 1:05 a.m., CUPD responded to a call at the Chi Phi house. Between 1:03 a.m. and 1:41 a.m., CUPD made a drug-related arrest [empasis mine] at the fraternity house and referred an individual to Cornell’s Office of Student Conduct. 

Source: CUPD Made Drug Arrest at Chi Phi 22 Hours Before the Alleged Sexual Assault

If the sworn law enforcement agency tasked with investigating a criminal complaint simply refers the defendant to a civilian board appointed by a private institution..... is that really an “arrest”? 

How does a campus “police” agency have the authority to refer criminal “arrests” to an in-house administrative body instead of a Court of Law????

 

The archived Cornell Police “Daily Crime Log” linked in the article cover October-December 2024. It purports to have made 49 “arrests” during that period.  However, only five of those seem to have been actual arrests.....referred to local Courts of Law to be adjudicated by a legitimate legal process. 

Those five actual arrests were trespassing charges against non-student defendants with addresses outside Cornell. The other forty-four “arrests” state that: An individual has been referred to the Office of Student Conduct. (Obviously they were all Cornell students, as that Office would have no authority over non-students). 

These “charges” that were dispensed as internal “misconduct” reviews involving students were all Alcohol Offenses and/or Drugs....with some having additional forgery/fraud reports. 

There are a total of seventy-five “arrests” listed on the current Daily Crime Log (that covers August and September 2026).  Only nine were referred to a legitimate Court of Law. All were non-students. Most were trespassing.....two were traffic infractions.

Whereas....every one of the 66 student “arrests” were referred to the Office of Student Conduct. They were predominantly alcohol offenses....many combined with forgery or fraud complaints. 

When visitors who are mere plebes get arrested for inconsequential traffic offenses, they're named/shamed and face real Court proceedings.....while students who are “arrested” for far more serious drug and alcohol offenses (some involving fraud and forgery) are spared any criminal record and provided anonymity. 

I can’t locate links to Daily Crime logs for any other time spans. But the two month archive and two month current logs I’ve reviewed show an alarming pattern. Non-student offenders “arrested” by campus police may be subject to Court appearances.....but students are universally protected from any of the criminal court process that everyone else faces. 

Without exception.....each and every one of the 110 CUPD “arrests” of students resulted in confidential disciplinary actions to be determined by to the Office of Student Conduct. Not a single student was referred to the legal Court system. 

This practice is inexcusable. The whole concept supports widespread cover-up and there’s no reason to believe it’s exclusive to Cornell.    

1 hour ago, MsKreed said:

When visitors who are mere plebes get arrested for inconsequential traffic offenses, they're named/shamed and face real Court proceedings.....while students who are “arrested” for far more serious drug and alcohol offenses (some involving fraud and forgery) are spared any criminal record and provided anonymity. 

I’m one of those who got a ticket and had to pay a fine. I guess if they’re already getting your money ( more specifically, mommy and daddy’s ) you can get away with such things.

Truly, two sets of laws and/or consequences depending on who you are.

12 hours ago, Chris said:

I’m one of those who got a ticket and had to pay a fine. I guess if they’re already getting your money ( more specifically, mommy and daddy’s ) you can get away with such things.

Truly, two sets of laws and/or consequences depending on who you are.

Yep. And somehow giving the campus autonomy to deal with their own for trivial matters in private has morphed into them being completely above the law.

It's somewhat understandable when favoritism is shown toward student traffic offenders. Just like anyplace with 'reserved' spots for certain staff or parking permits....it's the "outsiders" who face more consequences. It's annoying, but we kind of get it.

At the end of the day that's mostly just an inconvenience to others. Any private entity like Moose/Elks could likely deal with members directly for some transgressions they may otherwise call the cops for. Their sandbox, their rules, whatever.

But that mentality shouldn't be allowed to extend felony criminal activity.

A small group of protestors broke a glass door and painted slogans on Cornell University’s main administrative building early Monday morning. The group appears to have been motivated by the university’s handling of the alleged rape of a then-student by multiple fraternity members in 2024, as well as its treatment of students protesting the war in Gaza.

At least three people dressed in black and wearing face masks smashed the glass of the front entrance to Cornell’s Day Hall at 2:37 a.m. Monday. The group also spray painted slogans on either side of the entrance before photographing the scene and running off. Campus police responded at around 4 a.m. to the building, which is where Cornell’s president and other senior leaders have offices. 

Source

4 hours ago, Elmira Telegram said:

A small group of protestors broke a glass door and painted slogans on Cornell University’s main administrative building early Monday morning. The group appears to have been motivated by the university’s handling of the alleged rape of a then-student by multiple fraternity members in 2024, as well as its treatment of students protesting the war in Gaza.

At least three people dressed in black and wearing face masks smashed the glass of the front entrance to Cornell’s Day Hall at 2:37 a.m. Monday. The group also spray painted slogans on either side of the entrance before photographing the scene and running off. Campus police responded at around 4 a.m. to the building, which is where Cornell’s president and other senior leaders have offices. 

Source

Those are not protesters if they are sneaking around at night and vandalizing. That's a criminal, not a protester.

so what am i missing? ive read the parts of the report released revealing her statements no where does it allege rape( unless i missed something) so how has it gotten to this point beyond election year posturing

1 hour ago, ADAM said:

so what am i missing? ive read the parts of the report released revealing her statements no where does it allege rape( unless i missed something) so how has it gotten to this point beyond election year posturing

Yep lots of posturing going around!

Apparently, the statement that the DA refers to was drafted by CUPD to summarize Jane Doe’s 2024 interview (and she signed off on with her own edited/notations). And the sworn statement left out some stuff from the full transcript of the interview: 

When describing what happened later in the night, the transcript says Jane Doe said, "I can say with 100% confidence I was raped."

However, even if she “felt” like she’d been victimized....the behavior and events don’t describe the legal threshold for that.

 

If a drunk plunks $10k on the casino bar and consentingly offers to buy rounds for everyone til it's gone..... he may very well feel like he’d been robbed when he wakes up broke the next day.

But even if people encouraged him to drink more and buy them more (and some even texted friends to come partake of his drunken generosity)....accepting that drunken generosity doesn’t mean they "robbed" him.

Assuming any of them were even sober enough to recognize or appreciate his level of voluntary intoxication....might they have selfishly allowed him to make ill-advised decisions that he may later woefully regret?

Yes they did!

But that doesn’t mean they “robbed” him. It means he got drunk, he played stupid games and he won the stupid prize. Lesson learned....moderate your impulses next time. Here's your sign.

The Ithaca Common Council approved a moratorium to stop issuing permits for certain Cornell University and student events by a vote of 9-1 at their Wednesday meeting.

The action was proposed by Mayor Robert Cantelmo, following revelations about the university's handling of a former student's allegation of gang rape by fraternity members in 2024.

The moratorium applies to “Cornell University, residential and nonresidential sorority and fraternity student organizations affiliated with Cornell University, general student organizations affiliated with Cornell University, and university student organizations affiliated with Cornell University...”

The resolution states that the ban does not apply to “constitutionally protected” First Amendment rights like “peaceable assembly” or the “exercise of free speech”.

Source