Cornell suspends fraternity parties, retains Yates for review
In a 90-minute interview with the New York Times — his first since the woman filed her civil lawsuit last month — Kotlikoff addressed his administration’s handling of the 2024 allegations as the university faces mounting scrutiny and calls for his resignation. He acknowledged for the first time that he was aware a student had reported being sexually assaulted in November 2024 but had not followed up with her in the months after learning about the alleged assault.
“The fact that Jane Doe experienced what she experienced at Cornell is something that I am personally sorry for,” Kotlikoff said. “And I think this entire campus is sorry that occurred.” He added: “I’ve heard enough from the community that there is a loss of trust. People are angry. I understand that anger.”
Kotlikoff said he did not know the former student had left the school until she filed her lawsuit last month. Asked in the interview to respond to the criticism that his administration had failed to act on her allegations until she sued, he pointed to a presidential taskforce that had been established to examine sexual assault on campus. “I do think it’s important to understand we have more information now than we had at that time,” he said. “We’ve learned some more information that has come out around how this process unfolded.”
The lawsuit, filed last month, identifies the plaintiff by the pseudonym “Jane Doe” and accuses seven members of Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity of sexually assaulting her at a party at their on-campus fraternity house in October 2024. The complaint names Cornell, the fraternity and other parties among the defendants. All seven men named in the lawsuit have denied wrongdoing, and none have been criminally charged.
The woman reported the incident to the Cornell University police department in November 2024. Records obtained by the New York Times show that after an internal investigation at Cornell, two of the men were expelled, two were suspended, and another, who had already graduated, was barred from campus. The remaining men received lighter punishments, which included an order not to contact the woman and required “reflection papers.” The Tompkins County district attorney initially declined to bring charges, citing insufficient evidence. The district attorney has since said he will reopen his office’s investigation.
Governor Hochul has appointed Attorney General James as a special prosecutor to investigate the claims. Kotlikoff called the allegations “deeply disturbing” in a statement earlier this month and said he welcomed Hochul’s decision. Cornell’s faculty senate is expected to hold a rare vote of no confidence in the president later this month, according to reports.
On Tuesday, after the interview, Kotlikoff announced that Cornell would suspend parties at fraternity houses for the remainder of the academic year. The university also said it planned to add experienced sexual assault investigators to work with its police force. A newly formed special committee of the Cornell University Board of Trustees announced that it had retained Sally Yates, a former deputy attorney general in the Obama administration, to “lead a comprehensive independent review of how the university prevents and responds to sexual harassment, sexual assault and related misconduct on campus.”
Asked in the interview whether the administration should have been aware that the student had withdrawn, Kotlikoff said: “I do think there’s an argument for what you said, which is that if in fact a student has withdrawn because she feels unsafe at the outcome of the” university’s administrative review process “or there’s specific concerns around individuals – you know that there were no-contact orders for those individuals – I think that’s something that leadership should be made aware of. I would agree with that.”