U.S. prosecutors reopen alleged Cornell University gang rape case after accuser files lawsuit

Cornell University denies lawsuit allegations that suspects were allowed to write essays as mitigation for an alleged sexual assault. Photo by Matt Burkhartt/Getty Images

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U.S. prosecutors reopened an investigation Monday into an alleged gang rape at Cornell University following claims the elite college failed to properly punish the men involved.

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The alleged victim said in a civil lawsuit this month she was drugged with ketamine, assaulted and raped in 2024 by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity, a social club for male students.

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Cornell closed the fraternity and temporarily suspended the students involved, several of whom were later expelled.

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The newly released details of the alleged incident have fuelled allegations that the university was too lenient and reignited a debate over sexual assault on U.S. campuses.

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Matthew Van Houten, district attorney for Tompkins County in New York, said that he plans to file criminal charges against the seven men.

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He said his office chose in 2024 not to prosecute because the victim’s testimony did not establish a lack of consent, but had now decided to do so in light of her latest allegations.

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“I recognize the reality that it can take years of therapy and healing for victims of sexual assaults to fully process and understand what happened to them,” Van Houten said in a statement.

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“Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence.”

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Kyle Kimball, vice president of university relations at Cornell, said the Ivy League school supports the decision to reinvestigate the case.

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He also rejected a claim, made in the civil lawsuit, that the suspects were offered the opportunity to write essays to mitigate their conduct.

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“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” Kimball said.

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The 101-page civil lawsuit filed in New York gives graphic details on the alleged assault of the woman, whose identity is being protected.

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Notably, it provides a screenshot of a Snapchat group message advertising “free pussy” during the incident, apparently an invitation for other fraternity members to take part.

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The suit seeks financial damages from Cornell and the seven suspects, adding that the woman has suffered “severe emotional and psychological distress.”

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British actor Florence Pugh has voiced her anger about the case, saying she felt “uneasy and sick and anxious” after hearing about it.

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“Colleges/schools/universities repeatedly fail women around the world,” she wrote on Instagram.

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“You build men that get taught through time and time again that they can do extreme harm and that they won’t be harmed in return,” Pugh said.

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Prominent Democratic lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned a “culture of rape” at elite institutions like Cornell.