Overview
- A woman known as Jane Doe says she was given alcohol and pushed to take ketamine before being gang-raped by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity at Cornell on October 19, 2024.
- Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten reopened the criminal investigation on September 28, 2026 and said he is now considering charging the seven accused students.
- The plaintiff’s 101-page civil complaint supplied fuller materials not previously given to prosecutors, including the audio of her full interview, text message exchanges and a contemporaneous medical report.
- Cornell says it imposed disciplinary penalties in 2024 that included dissolving Chi Phi, excluding two students and other sanctions, and the university has accepted an independent review while expressing support for the prosecutor’s decision.
- The case has provoked wide public outrage, drawn comments from high-profile figures and highlighted how drug-involved assaults complicate proof of non‑consent, a development that could prompt changes to campus reporting and investigation practices.