Cornell University will bring in outside counsel to independently examine how the school handled allegations of a sexual assault involving students at a Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.
The decision follows renewed scrutiny of the university’s response after a former Cornell student filed a lawsuit alleging that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by multiple men at the fraternity house in October 2024. The allegations have also prompted authorities in Tompkins County to reopen their criminal investigation.
Hochul had called for an independent review of Cornell’s handling of the case earlier this week. She said she spoke with Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff and that the university agreed to move forward with an outside investigation.
The governor has also said her administration is examining whether additional steps are needed to strengthen protections for survivors of sexual assault on college campuses.
The former student, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, is suing Cornell University and seven Chi Phi fraternity members. Her lawsuit alleges that she was incapacitated and assaulted by multiple men during an incident at the fraternity house.
Cornell has previously said that its own offices investigated the allegations and that disciplinary proceedings were conducted. The university has said the Chi Phi chapter was closed following the 2024 incident and has remained barred from campus. Cornell also said that sanctions issued through its internal process included expulsions and suspensions, although federal privacy rules limit what the university can publicly disclose about individual students.
The criminal investigation has also taken a new direction. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced that his office was reopening its review of the allegations after the civil lawsuit brought forward additional information. The case is expected to be examined for possible presentation to a grand jury once prosecutors determine what charges, if any, may be appropriate.
A key issue now under examination is what information was available to investigators when the original decision not to pursue criminal charges was made.
A recently surfaced transcript of an interview with Cornell police shows the former student telling investigators that she believed she had been raped. Van Houten has said that he previously relied on a six-page statement from the woman and that the contents of the fuller police interview were not provided to him at the time. After being shown the transcript, he said the information was new to him and warranted follow-up.
The renewed investigation comes as Cornell faces questions about how its internal disciplinary process, campus police investigation and local criminal investigation handled the same allegations.
Cornell’s Student Assembly has also opened a discussion about institutional transparency and accountability in the university’s response to the 2024 case. A proposed resolution calls for greater transparency around aggregate disciplinary outcomes and the way university offices coordinate with law enforcement, while acknowledging that individual student records are subject to privacy restrictions.
No criminal conviction has resulted from the allegations, and the claims made in the civil lawsuit have not been established in court. The reopened investigation and Cornell’s planned independent review are separate processes that could provide additional information about how the case was handled and what actions may follow.
For now, the university’s outside review and the reopened criminal investigation remain ongoing. The outcome of those proceedings could determine whether additional facts, disciplinary issues or potential criminal charges emerge from the allegations first reported in 2024.
