While the world picks apart a case that should’ve gone through the right channels from jump, and while the president of the United States is out here sympathizing with the men accused, the students at Cornell showed up for the one who needs it most.
On Monday, October 5, several thousand students, faculty, and community members packed a rally at Cornell University. The crowd showed up for a former classmate known only as Jane Doe, whose allegations of gang rape have gotten national attention after the case was reopened. The energy on campus was real. Demonstrators wore purple ribbons and filled the plaza, the administration building, and the student center, chanting “support survivors, expel rapists” and hoisting signs that read “Justice 4 every Jane Doe.” Many in the crowd believe Cornell tried to sweep the whole thing under the rug. One student at the rally said rape culture is still alive and she doesn’t feel safe on campus.
The protesters came with a list of demands. They want an outside inquiry into how the administration handled the case, independent hearings, uniform minimum sanctions for every sexual assault on campus, and better training for campus police on how to respond to complaints of sexual violence and harassment. They also want any student found complicit in the alleged assault expelled or stripped of their degree.
As we previously reported, the woman alleges she was gang raped by several men at the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024 after being pressured into drinking and taking drugs. Her lawsuit names seven men, the university, her sorority, and the fraternity. No criminal charges have been filed against the seven men. Lawyers for at least three of them have denied the allegations. The accusations haven’t been tested in court. But the way the case was handled the first time around is what lit the fuse.
She reported the alleged assault to police several weeks later, which led to an internal university investigation and a law enforcement probe, but the local prosecutor declined to bring charges. Her lawyer says that after her initial statement, no police or criminal investigators ever contacted her again.
The pressure has been building for days, and it’s already moved some of the people who hold the power. Governor Kathy Hochul said Doe was “failed by people and institutions,” pointing at both the Cornell police and Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten. Last Thursday she signed an executive order appointing Attorney General Letitia James’s office as special prosecutor, saying she had lost faith in the local DA’s ability to handle the case.
That order lets James’s office oversee the investigation and, if warranted, take evidence to a grand jury.
Cornell, which first strongly defended how it handled the case, has since agreed to bring in outside lawyers to independently review how it dealt with the allegations.
The students on that campus are making sure she isn’t standing there alone. The question now is whether the state investigation, the outside review, and the pressure from the street will finally get her something the first go-round didn’t: answers.