Prosecutors reopen investigation into alleged Cornell fraternity gang rape

Lawsuit names Cornell as co-defendant in alleged gang-rape case

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said Monday that his office has reopened an investigation into the alleged gang-rape of a Cornell University student at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024, following public outcry over the “leniency” shown to seven fraternity members named as the perpetrators. Van Houten told ABC News the decision came after a civil lawsuit filed earlier in September against the university and her alleged attackers presented allegations that were “dramatically different” from the statement the woman gave to police two years ago.

“It’s our intention to present the case to the Tompkins County grand jury with Jane Doe’s cooperation,” Van Houten said, using the pseudonym from the lawsuit. “We want to re-examine whether there’s additional evidence that we were not aware of in November of 2024, that exists now that would change our assessment of the case and would result in the grand jury finding that there was criminal conduct.”

The woman’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra, told CBS News that none of the seven members of Chi Phi named in the lawsuit were arrested. “Not one of these guys was arrested. Not one. That I can tell you for a fact,” Giuffra said. He also countered Van Houten’s characterization of the original police complaint from November 2024, saying neither the district attorney’s office nor Cornell police ever followed up with his client.

Giuffra added that nobody in the frat house who saw the Snapchat message did anything to stop the rapes. “There were so many people that could have prevented it and they didn’t. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.

According to the lawsuit, the woman, who was 20 at the time, went to visit a friend at the Chi Phi frat house in an already intoxicated state and was made to snort a drug they told her was ketamine. She was then repeatedly raped. The suit alleges that a message was sent to a frat house Snapchat group called Chi Phi Actives that stated there was “free pussy upstairs” and that at least five other members who saw the message joined in the assault, which lasted until about 5:45 a.m. She made a report to campus police about three weeks later. The woman, who quit the university afterwards, filed the civil suit earlier in September.

Outrage over the treatment of the alleged offenders has grown since the lawsuit was made public.

Cornell Vice President for University Relations Kyle Kimball issued a statement on Sept. 21 calling the allegations “deeply disturbing.” Kimball said the university’s offices of civil rights, student conduct and community standards carried out a number of inquiries at the time. He said the Xi chapter of Chi Phi remains barred from 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,” Kimball said. “Violations of university policies could lead to sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion.”

Van Houten said the initial statement the woman gave police in November 2024 did not describe the same set of circumstances. “She never says that she was drugged without her knowledge,” Van Houten told ABC News. “She admits to taking drugs and alcohol voluntarily and with knowledge. She does not allege that she was forced to engage in any acts. She does not say that she was physically helpless or unconscious or incapacitated at any point during the time at the fraternity house.”

Giuffra said neither the district attorney nor Cornell police ever contacted his client after her initial report. “In my experience, speaking with an abuse survivor requires delicacy, understanding and specialized training,” he told ABC News. “An average university police officer would not have these skills. However, Ms. Doe was never contacted by anybody with those skills.”

Academy Award-nominated actor Florence Pugh posted a statement on Instagram praising the woman as “unbelievably powerful” and her “strong will.” “This is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us,” Pugh wrote. “You need to be leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behaviour as much as we are.”