Cornell fraternity gang rape case: key claims fact-checked amid new probe
A lawsuit filed by a Cornell student against seven Chi Phi members has reignited a 2024 gang rape investigation. New York's governor appointed the state AG as special prosecutor.
Cornell fraternity rape allegations: what the facts show
A Cornell University student's lawsuit against seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity has reignited a criminal investigation into allegations of gang rape at the fraternity house in October 2024, ABC News US reports. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that she was appointing the state attorney general as a special prosecutor to take over the probe — a move that came after Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten reopened the case he had initially declined to prosecute.
Van Houten had originally said he found no evidence that the woman was raped or drugged against her will. Several of the men named in the lawsuit have denied engaging in any nonconsensual sex or denied touching the woman at all.
Below is a closer look at the key claims circulating online.
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CLAIM: The woman never told police she was raped; the allegation appeared only in the new lawsuit.
THE FACTS: Misleading. The woman told campus police she consented to an initial sexual encounter with two of the men, but said she was not comfortable with what happened later, when she alleged other men began entering the room. "Yes. It was coercion, yes," she told a campus police officer, according to a transcript obtained by CBS News.
She also told campus police she was "completely and totally incapacitated" before some of the sexual abuse occurred. The woman acknowledged she had been drinking alcohol and used drugs that night, and said she had gaps in her memory. She said at least one of the men struck her during the attack, which lasted several hours. "I can say with 100% confidence I was raped," the transcript states.
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CLAIM: Cornell didn't follow up on the woman's allegations.
THE FACTS: False. When the woman filed her report in 2024, the university immediately suspended Chi Phi — which remains barred from campus — and suspended some of the students alleged to be involved. The school conducted its own investigation that included 50 interviews with 32 witnesses and 12 days of hearings. Both the woman and several of the men she accused were interviewed. An investigative panel produced a 99-page report outlining its findings, according to court documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
The review concluded with some students being expelled or suspended, school officials said. Cornell has declined to provide details on those disciplinary outcomes, citing federal privacy laws. The university also established a task force on campus sexual assault following the woman's report. That panel issued recommendations earlier this year, several of which have since been implemented while others remain in development, according to school officials.
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CLAIM: Cornell's only punishment was making the accused write essays.
THE FACTS: Misleading. The university says it expelled some of the students, though it has not specified how many. However, certain individuals who were accused of sexual assault but found not responsible of that allegation by the university were ordered to write essays or complete courses as discipline for separate conduct violations.
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CLAIM: The prosecutor closed the case without ever speaking with the victim or reading a transcript of her police interviews.
THE FACTS: True. Van Houten said his decision not to prosecute was based on a written statement prepared by campus police and signed by the woman — a summary of two days of interviews, not a full transcript. He said he did not receive a copy of the complete transcript.
According to Van Houten, the summary did not include the woman's statement that she was certain she had been sexually assaulted. It also did not contain allegations of her being drugged against her will or forced into sex acts, which led him to conclude there was no criminal case. He said he considered the police-relayed account detailed enough that additional investigation was not warranted.
Van Houten also noted that neither the woman nor her attorney contacted him to request reconsideration of his decision. The district attorney said the information he received from campus police appeared, at the time, to be a comprehensive account of her allegations.
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The lawsuit filed last month named seven Chi Phi members, the university, and others as defendants. Its filing brought the 2024 allegations back into public view and prompted both the district attorney's reversal and the governor's intervention. Chi Phi remains suspended from the Cornell campus pending the outcome of the proceedings.
Source: ABC News US