Ithaca, N.Y. — Prosecutors Reopen Cornell Frat Rape Case

New York state prosecutors have reopened an investigation into the alleged rape of a Cornell University student at a fraternity house in Ithaca, New York, after the woman filed a civil lawsuit against the Ivy League school this month, according to BBC News.

The woman, identified in court filings as Jane Doe, alleges she was drugged and raped at the Chi Phi fraternity chapter house in October 2024 and that Cornell failed to protect her or adequately discipline the men involved, the BBC reported. Cornell has said it supported presenting the case to a grand jury while rejecting the claim that it failed to punish those involved, according to the same report.

What does the lawsuit allege happened at the fraternity house?

Doe's lawsuit states that on the night of October 19, 2024, seven men from Cornell's Chi Phi chapter assaulted her for hours in an incident involving alcohol and the drug ketamine, the BBC reported. She was a 20-year-old undergraduate at the time, according to the filing cited by the BBC.

Doe said she was intoxicated and could not consent, and that she left her sorority sisters that night and "stumbled alone" to the fraternity house to see a male friend, the lawsuit states, per the BBC. The suit alleges sexual assault and battery, negligence, breach of contract and violations of New York's Human Rights Law, and names the university, the fraternity, a sorority and the men involved — described in the filing as the "Cornell Seven" — as defendants, the BBC reported.

Doe reported the alleged assault to Cornell University Police on November 8, 2024, according to the BBC. Her lawyer told CBS News that in the days afterward she was

"traumatised, numb and unable to function or accept the horror of what had happened,"

as quoted by the BBC.

Why did New York prosecutors reopen the case?

The BBC reported that prosecutors reopened the investigation this year following the filing of Doe's civil lawsuit, and that Cornell said it supported sending the matter to a grand jury. The university's position, as described by the BBC, is that it backs further legal review of the case while disputing the lawsuit's characterization of its disciplinary response.

What discipline did Cornell impose on the men involved?

Doe's lawyer told CBS that two of the men involved were expelled from Cornell, according to the BBC's reporting. The lawsuit itself alleges that the men were "afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays," a characterization the BBC attributed directly to the court filing. Cornell has rejected the broader claim that it failed to adequately punish those involved, the BBC reported, though the university's account of what disciplinary steps were taken beyond the two expulsions was not detailed in the available reporting.

Doe's lawyer also told CBS that the woman dropped out of the university after the alleged assault, according to the BBC.

What did the Snapchat and text messages show?

Doe's lawsuit includes an image purported to be from a fraternity group chat titled "Chi Phi Actives," in which a participant alerted other members, in vulgar terms, to the potential for a sexual encounter with Doe, the BBC reported. The messages, dated the early hours of October 20, 2024, name the members involved and describe a "free" sexual encounter using coarse language, according to the BBC's description of the filing.

Cornell University said its police department had already provided an image of the Snapchat group to prosecutors as evidence in November 2024, the BBC reported. CBS News New York has separately published excerpts of additional text messages reportedly exchanged between one of the defendants and a woman, according to the BBC.

What happens next in the investigation?

The case now sits with New York state prosecutors, who have reopened the inquiry following Doe's lawsuit, the BBC reported. Cornell's stated support for a grand jury presentation suggests the matter could move toward criminal proceedings, though no charges have been announced in the material reviewed. The civil lawsuit against the university, the fraternity, a sorority and the individual defendants remains pending, according to the BBC.

Students at Cornell have also gathered publicly to voice anger over the case, the BBC reported, though specific statements from that gathering were not detailed in the available source material.

Key figures in the case

• 7 — men from the Chi Phi fraternity chapter allegedly involved in the October 2024 assault, per the lawsuit cited by the BBC
• 20 — Doe's age at the time of the alleged assault
• 2 — men Doe's lawyer says were expelled from Cornell, according to the BBC
• Oct. 19, 2024 — date of the alleged assault
• Nov. 8, 2024 — date Doe reported the incident to Cornell University Police