A sexually charged case that roiled Cornell University two years ago has exploded onto the national stage, fueling a fierce debate over sex, consent and criminality in college hookup culture.
Seven former Chi Phi fraternity brothers are accused in a lawsuit of drugging and raping a female Cornell student during a night of drinking, drugs and group sex at their fraternity house in October 2024.
The accuser, identified in court papers by the pseudonym Jane Doe, alleges the men sexually assaulted her after she arrived intoxicated and was pressured into taking ketamine and other substances. The men have denied wrongdoing, with some maintaining the sexual activity was consensual and others denying they participated in it. No criminal charges have been filed against the seven men.
The case has now erupted into a political and legal firestorm, with New York Attorney General Letitia James announcing Friday that her office is conducting an “active criminal investigation” after Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed the Office of the Attorney General as special prosecutor. Cornell has separately agreed to retain outside counsel to conduct an independent review of the university’s handling of the allegations.
At the center of the controversy are sharply conflicting accounts of what happened that night, including differences between what Doe said in the weeks afterward, what prosecutors say they received from Cornell police and the explosive allegations contained in a lawsuit filed nearly two years later.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who initially declined to pursue charges, has said Doe’s November 2024 sworn statement did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped and instead described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as “voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”
Doe was 20 years old and a Cornell undergraduate when the events at the center of the case unfolded on the night of Oct. 19, 2024.
According to her lawsuit, Doe began the evening drinking vodka at her Tri Delta sorority house before attending a sorority social event at a downtown Ithaca bar. She later went to a second bar before leaving alone around 11 p.m. and walking to the Chi Phi fraternity house to meet a friend who was a member.
By the time she arrived at Chi Phi, Doe was visibly intoxicated and had consumed roughly 10 standard drinks over three hours, according to her own complaint.
Once inside, Doe alleges, a fraternity member gave her another beer before proposing a threesome with another fraternity brother. The lawsuit maintains that Doe was already too intoxicated to consent.
Doe alleges she was then taken upstairs, where two fraternity members pressured her into snorting what they said was ketamine, a drug she says she had never previously taken. She alleges they also gave her marijuana and high-proof liquor before engaging in sexual acts with her without her consent.
The lawsuit alleges other fraternity members entered the room as the night progressed. At 1:42 a.m., according to a screenshot reproduced in the complaint, one member posted “free p—-” in a Snapchat group for active Chi Phi members. The complaint alleges the message encouraged other members to go upstairs.
CBS News reported Friday that it had obtained additional Snapchat messages from the fraternity group, including a photograph of Doe with an
