A 20-year-old student, identified in reporting only by the pseudonym Jane Doe, brought forward a claim in 2024 that members of the Chi Phi fraternity house had drugged and assaulted her. Cornell University's own review process at that point resulted in a handful of expulsions and suspensions, yet the matter never advanced to the stage of criminal prosecution.
A civil lawsuit filed by the woman against seven former Chi Phi members and the University, along with broader public pressure, has prompted the Tompkins County District Attorney's Office to reopen a criminal investigation into the matter.
University investigation documents show that Doe took time before coming forward to report the sexual assault allegation. The document portrayed her as having been placed under pressure to act against her will.
During a campus police interview, she stated with complete certainty that she had been raped — a declaration that later took on added weight when Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told a news outlet that his office had not received the transcript of that interview, a gap he identified as a factor in the decision against pursuing charges.
Cornell's campus police, the university stated, followed established procedures and turned over the full body of investigative material. Van Houten, responding to fresh details and revived allegations, told a television outlet that he intends to place the matter before a grand jury within a 45-day window.
The six-page sworn statement Doe had provided formed the basis for his office's early determination against bringing charges, Van Houten explained, pointing out that its contents diverged from the allegations later set out in her civil lawsuit. Van Houten told a broadcast outlet that the documents in question had not come to his attention before that evening, and that he would obtain them once their existence was confirmed, while a member of his team maintained that all materials provided at the time had been reviewed.
Thomas P. Giuffra, the attorney representing Doe, has raised objections to the way the case was managed. Giuffra told a prominent news outlet that the Title IX records and interview transcripts would carry considerable probative weight in any criminal inquiry, and separately noted that Doe's progression — from early disorientation and shame toward an eventual recognition of the assault — aligns with patterns documented in trauma research. Speaking to a prominent news outlet, he questioned what additional steps Van Houten would have required before launching a full investigation and bringing charges.
Among the evidence available to investigators was a rape allegation made to police by a woman, alongside a group chat that appeared to solicit sexual violence. The Cornell Title IX inquiry generated a voluminous record, with materials gathered during the process reportedly running to hundreds of pages and encompassing emails, text messages, and photographs.
Document records reviewed by a broadcast outlet indicated that Doe had difficulty processing what had taken place, and that contact between her and certain men connected to the matter continued in the days that followed. According to her legal representatives, the text Doe sent back — in which she indicated that the sexual conduct in question had not crossed into illegal territory — reflected the state of shock she was in at the time, along with a desire to manage a situation where she felt both humiliated and concerned about how she would be perceived publicly; one of the men involved had, for his part, sent a prior message expressing regret over what had taken place.
According to a university statement, the matter went before a review body composed of trained faculty and staff members, who weighed evidence across several sessions before imposing outcomes that ranged from suspension to expulsion for a number of students. Chi Phi's access to campus was withdrawn by the institution in 2024, and that prohibition has not been lifted.
In a statement addressing disciplinary outcomes, Cornell's president, Michael I. Kotlikoff, drew a distinction between students who faced expulsion or suspension and those whose cases resulted in a finding of no responsibility for sexual misconduct.
The filing by Doe names the university alongside the other defendants, alleging they broke contractual obligations, acted negligently, and ran afoul of state law. Each of the men facing charges has put forward a denial of the allegations against them.
Defense attorney Jeremy Saland, representing defendant Scott Kretzchmar, told the court that although the Snapchat messages exchanged on the night in question carried offensive content, their existence alone falls short of establishing that a sexual assault took place. Saland told the court that no physical contact between his client and the woman had occurred, and that a hair follicle analysis returned a negative result for ketamine.
Andrew Miltenberg, attorney for defendant Lopes, told the court that his client rejects the charges in their entirety, and that the version of events put forward publicly does not align with what the university's own internal review determined.
Cornell's agreement to bring in outside counsel for an independent review of whether the university fulfilled its duty of care toward students was disclosed by Governor Kathy Hochul as the matter heads toward a grand jury proceeding. Cantelmo, Ithaca's mayor, put forward a request that the university strengthen its coordination with local law enforcement when handling on-campus sexual assault reports going forward.
