— Halle Berry on how she welcomed turning 60 with more confidence. But why wait?
US News
DA Reopens "The Cornell 7" Case
Note: This story discusses sexual assault.
What’s going on: Prosecutors in New York reopened an investigation into an alleged gang rape of a former Cornell student in October 2024. On Monday, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said he is pursuing criminal charges in the case that'll be presented to a grand jury, per The Washington Post. The announcement comes two weeks after “Jane Doe” filed a civil lawsuit against the university claiming they didn’t do enough to protect her. In the suit, Jane Doe alleges seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity drugged and sexually assaulted her at a fraternity house. One of the suspects is accused of inviting other fraternity members in a Snapchat group to join the assault. No one was ever criminally charged, and the lawsuit claims the university didn’t discipline appropriately. Cornell suspended the Chi Phi chapter and expelled two of the seven accused students, but reportedly doled out lesser punishments to the others. Cornell declined to share specifics about the disciplinary action it took but said, “Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false.” The university said it supports the DA’s decision to reopen the case. In a written statement published Monday, Jane Doe said, the trauma “will haunt me and be part of me the rest of my life.”
Tell me more: Van Houten said what Jane Doe alleges happened in her civil complaint is “dramatically different” from her statement to police two years ago. Jane Doe’s attorney claims university police were not trained to speak with an abuse survivor, and a trained detective never contacted his client. The DA also said he never received the alleged image of the “Chi Phi Actives” Snapchat conversation which is included in the lawsuit, though Jane Doe’s attorney says campus police received this "critical piece of evidence." In 2024, the DA’s office did not “independently investigate” the allegations and instead relied on the university police department’s reporting. The incident has sparked criticism over the handling of sexual abuse cases on college campuses. At a town hall in Ithaca (where Cornell is located), New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) blamed the incident on a “culture of rape” on campus. Actress Florence Pugh also weighed in on Instagram, calling for men to be just “as horrified and as sickened as us” over the allegations.
