Updated September 29, 2026 at 2:12 PM CDT
New York prosecutors say they are reopening investigations into an alleged gang rape in 2024 that involved Cornell University students, as Gov. Kathy Hochul calls for outside counsel to review the school's response to the case.
The moves come after the alleged victim, referred to as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York this month. In it, she claims multiple men drugged and brutally raped her for more than four hours at Cornell's Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024.
In a nine-page statement, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced on Monday that efforts are underway to reexamine the case. Once his office determines appropriate charges, the case will be presented to a grand jury, he said. Van Houten said he has assigned a senior prosecutor, with experience in sex crimes, to start preparations.
Hochul said in a statement on Tuesday that she supports the D.A.'s decision to revisit the allegations in the case, which she described as "nothing short of horrifying."
"But there are also serious questions about Cornell's campus culture and its systems for prevention, reporting, and response," she continued. "That is why I am calling for outside counsel to conduct a transparent, independent review of the university's response to determine whether Cornell met every obligation to protect its students and pursue justice."
In response, Cornell University issued a statement saying the school is "committed to continuing to work with state officials to advance student safety and wellbeing."
The Ithaca, N.Y., school issued an earlier statement following news that prosecutors are taking another look at the case.
On Monday, Cornell said that it supports the decision but defended how university officials handled the case two years ago. Kyle Kimball, vice president for university relations at Cornell, said the school "conducted a thorough Title IX investigation" that lasted several months.
No criminal charges were ever filed.
But Cornell said it held a hearing where "a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days," including testimony from all sides.
At the end of that hearing, expulsions and suspensions were issued. It did not specify which individuals faced those consequences.
Kimball continued in the statement: "Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false."
The Xi chapter of Chi Phi fraternity, of which the alleged rapists were members, was banned from the campus two years ago, when details first emerged.
Doe is suing the seven alleged rapists, the fraternity, Cornell University, her sorority and the nightclub that allegedly served her alcohol as a minor the night of the alleged attack. She was 20 at the time.
Her attorneys didn't respond to a request for comment before publication.
The case came under fierce scrutiny on social media following Doe's lawsuit. In his statement, Van Houten said people have called his office to demand answers as to why the case was never investigated. Others called to insult and threaten, he said.
Van Houten acknowledged the outrage. In defending his office, he said the civil lawsuit's claims differ from the unnamed victim's sworn statement from two years ago.
"Jane Doe's sworn statement in November of 2024 did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped. On the contrary, Jane Doe's statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual," he wrote. "My office obviously did not and could not have based our November 2024 decision on the allegations in a civil lawsuit that would not be filed until nearly two years later."
Van Houten added that his office had never been contacted by Doe's attorneys.
"Not to inform me the original statement was inaccurate and not to ask me to reconsider our decision," he said. Van Houten said he reached out to Doe's attorneys to understand "the discrepancy."
On Tuesday, Cornell students walking to classes on a gray, autumn day expressed anger and disappointment over the case.
You Chung, a graduate student, said she's disappointed that the men involved in the incident haven't faced more severe punishment. She also said she worries about the welfare of the victim.
"It must be very brutal for the victim to go through all the processes," she said, referring to the campus investigation that followed the incident.
"I feel really disappointed in Cornell," said student Omoye Imoisili. "I don't know how a whole gang rape can be swept under the rug with essays," she said, referring to a claim in the civil lawsuit that some of the men were allowed to write essays in order to mitigate disciplinary action by the college.
What Jane Doe alleges
The lawsuit includes distressing details of the alleged attack in October 2024, including a Snapchat conversation between members of Chi Phi that appeared to invite other students to assault the alleged victim that night.
NPR attempted to reach the men named in the suit without success.
Doe's lawsuit says she enrolled at Cornell as an undergraduate in 2022. She joined the Delta Delta Delta sorority chapter at the school, her lawsuit says.
"...The University actively promoted Greek membership as a 'vital' part of the campus community and endorsed these organizations as well- managed, worthy pathways to new friendships and improving one's educational and professional opportunities," according to the lawsuit.
Seven members of Chi Phi allegedly attacked Doe on Oct. 19, 2024, at the fraternity house on campus. Earlier in the evening, even though Doe was under 21, she attended a social event hosted by her sorority at a bar called Moonies — one of the defendants in the case — and was able to drink there, the lawsuit says. Doe alleges the establishment was negligent in allowing her to drink as a minor.
In a statement to NPR, Moonies said that on the night of the event, it "had a contract in place and followed all the terms and conditions set by the sorority. To ensure with the compliance, we marked the hands of underage (18+) guests and provided wristbands to those over 21. Our bartenders strongly followed the rules and only served guests who had wristbands on their hands. No alcohol was served to guests who had mark on their hands."
The statement continued that a report in The Cornell Daily Sun, the campus newspaper, that she had been served alcohol by Moonies employees "is completely inaccurate. ... Moonies employees strictly followed the rules and did not serve alcohol to any underaged guests."
Around 11 p.m., Doe walked to the Chi Phi house, where she was "visibly intoxicated" and met with one of the defendants, described as a friend, who offered her a beer, according to the lawsuit.
The two danced for a bit before he propositioned her with a threesome with other members of his fraternity. The lawsuit says Doe "had consumed about 10 standard drinks within the past 3 hours" and was not able to consent.
This individual brought her to a room where another member of the fraternity joined them. They passed around a bag containing alleged ketamine, which can cause dissociation and loss of body control. The lawsuit claims Doe was pressured to snort the drug with them. The lawsuit alleges the fraternity brothers forced marijuana and more alcohol on her.
Doe names Cornell in the lawsuit alleging, among other things, that the school knew, or should have known, that the Xi chapter of Chi Phi had a drug culture, specifically with ketamine. Just a week before the assault, police responded to a drug-related incident at the fraternity house, the lawsuit states.
After doing drugs, the two men then began assaulting Doe orally and vaginally "all without her consent," the lawsuit says. Another member of the fraternity entered the room, grabbed Doe and started kissing her, while the second student groped her. The two men then started assaulting Doe — again without her consent, the lawsuit alleges.
Shortly after, one of the men sent a Snapchat message to Xi chapter members that appears to invite others to come into the room to assault Doe, the lawsuit states.
Multiple members of the fraternity then entered the room while Doe attempted to hide her naked body under the bed sheets, according to court documents. The lawsuit says: "At that point, Plaintiff's phone was on the other side of the room and she felt as if there was no way for her to escape this room full of predatory, fraternity men."
Then, all seven named defendants allegedly poured lines of ketamine all over Doe's body and snorted them. She was assaulted again before passing out at 5:45 a.m., the lawsuit says.
Attorney Jeremy Saland is representing Scott Kretzschmar, one of the men accused of taking part in the assault. He confirmed to NPR that his client was present at the Chi Phi party in October 2024.
Saland said Kretzschmar also acknowledges taking part in the Snapchat message exchange included in the lawsuit filing.
"Scott, I think, would say that responding to that Snap thread that people have seen, moving with and continuing the ugly communication and conversation, was regrettable and ugly," Saland said.
But according to Saland, Kretzschmar said that while he was in the room with the men and woman, he did not participate in any sexual assault and was unaware that the woman was in distress. "She was coherent, she was not under duress," Saland said.
Saland said Cornell University eventually disciplined Kretzschmar for his role in the incident, but the punishment fell short of suspension or expulsion. Saland declined to say what kind of sanctions Krestschmar faced.
NPR attempted to reach the other six named defendants without success. NPR is not naming the other defendants unless they are charged or respond in a public statement.
Differences between 2024 statement and lawsuit
Van Houten says there are similarities between Doe's original 2024 statement to police and details in the lawsuit. However, he writes: "There is no evidence in Jane Doe's statement indicating that she clearly expressed that she did not consent to the act. According to the statement, each time Jane Doe asked to stop the sexual conduct, the sexual conduct stopped."
And thus "criminal charges simply could not be sustained," Van Houten explained. "To instruct otherwise would have been to violate my prosecutorial obligations under New York State Law."
There are several instances in her statement shared by Van Houten, however, that indicate moments where Doe could not remember certain details, did not consent to certain activities and was increasingly intoxicated as the night continued.
Prominent voices speak out
Following the school's investigation, Cornell took steps to further address sexual assault issues at the school. The university formed the Presidential Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault and in March, the group published a report with several recommendations for the university to take to improve communication and education for students.
While Cornell maintains it worked to hold those involved in the incident accountable, a former student told NPR that broader cultural change on campus never happened.
Kat Martin, who graduated from Cornell in 2025, told NPR that heavy alcohol and drug use remained a central part of Cornell's social culture.
Martin says she volunteered for a campus sexual safety organization after being sexually assaulted her freshman year. "It was normalized to experience violence. It was normalized to worry about being drugged," she told NPR.
NPR reached out to Cornell for a response to Martin's comments, but they referred back to the statement issued earlier Monday.
That culture continued after 2024.
Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo, an alumnus of Cornell, on Monday called for an immediate moratorium on student group activities, including Greek life gatherings, until Cornell reviews its protocols for preventing and prosecuting sexual violence and publicly releases new guidelines, as member station WSKG reported.
This culture of sexual violence endemic in elite institutions like Cornell "has got to stop," said New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at an event in Ithaca, N.Y., on Sunday. She is one of several prominent voices speaking out on the case.
"Those men posted in a group chat. That means it was normal to them. That means it was acceptable to them," she said.
NPR's Brian Mann and Maureen Pao contributed to this reporting.
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