Cornell University conducted an internal disciplinary investigation involving more than 50 interviews with 32 witnesses after a student reported she was drugged and raped by several men at a fraternity house in October 2024, according to court documents unsealed in a New York state court this week.
uncertain
she → conduct → court
The court documents show at least one fraternity member is fighting in court to overturn the disciplinary action against him and clear his academic record.
asserted
member → show → record
The rape allegations gained national attention after the woman filed a lawsuit last month, both because of the brutality of the alleged crime and the fact that none of the accused students faced criminal charges.
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none → gain → charges
Cornell has said it meted out a range of sanctions, including suspensions and expulsions.
asserted
it → say → suspensions
The Cornell chapter of the fraternity was closed in 2024 and has been barred from campus.
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chapter → close → campus
Students and alumni have publicly questioned whether the Ivy League School, police and prosecutors did enough to investigate, pursue criminal charges and punish the students accused of the assault.
asserted
School → question → assault
As news of the case spread across the nation and social media over the past week, some observers took matters into their own hands, doxing the accused men online and publicly accosting one of them.
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observers → spread → them
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Thursday evening that she had lost faith in the Tompkins County district attorney’s ability to fairly oversee the case and had appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor.
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she → say → prosecutor
A spokesperson for Cornell said Thursday night that the university supports the governor’s decision to assign the case to the New York Attorney General’s Office.
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university → say → Office
The county district attorney, Matthew Van Houten, has publicly said that his office did not bring charges at the time because it did not have all of the information it has now.
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it → say → information
Cornell said in a statement on its website that its university police department investigated in 2024 and shared the woman’s sworn statement and screenshot Snapchat messages related to the alleged incident with the county district attorney’s office, “which is the established protocol if the department believes it is possible a crime has occurred”.
asserted
crime → say → office
The school did not respond to a question Thursday about whether it turned over all the evidence it gathered from interviews to law enforcement.
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it → respond → enforcement
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit last month against a number of defendants, including Cornell University and seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity.
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woman → identify → fraternity
When she was a 20-year-old student at Cornell in 2024, Doe alleges that she was the victim of a gang rape at the fraternity house while she was drunk, pressured to inhale the drug ketamine and incapable of consent.
asserted
she → allege → consent
A fraternity member allegedly invited other members to come to the room to join in, according to the lawsuit, with a message on Snapchat say that there was “free p---y”.
uncertain
member → invite → Snapchat
Another added: “Like you can walk in and whip it out.”
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you → add → it
“I felt like bait.
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I → feel → bait
I felt like lions around me,” Doe said at a May 2025 disciplinary hearing, according to the newly unsealed documents.
uncertain
Doe → feel → documents
The landmark civil rights law prohibits sex-based discrimination, including sexual violence.
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law → prohibit → violence
The panel’s decision was among court documents unsealed this week.
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decision → unseal → documents
After Jane Doe sued, Van Houten announced his office planned to pursue potential criminal charges based on the new evidence in the lawsuit.
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office → sue → lawsuit
But Van Houten defended the 2024 decision not to bring charges, saying in a statement earlier this week that Doe had told police that the sexual conduct and drug use was “voluntary, conscious and consensual.”
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conduct → defend → police
His description of the situation sparked outrage.
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description → spark → outrage
An online petition from Cornell alumni has attracted more than 40,000 signatures and calls for a public apology from the Ivy League school and “removal of all school officials who are revealed to be complicit” in protecting people accused of participating in the rape.
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who → attract → rape
All seven of the accused have been named in some news reports, on social media and on an anonymous website called the “Cornell7” that displays their photos and information about the allegations.
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that → accuse → allegations
TMZ reported that one of the men lost his job at a bank branch in Charlotte.
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one → report → Charlotte
Andrew Miltenberg, an attorney for one of the student defendants, said he did not want to minimise the trauma that Jane Doe described and that her experience deserved to be treated seriously and with dignity.
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experience → say → dignity
“But empathy for an accuser and fairness to the accused are not mutually exclusive.
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empathy → accuse → accused
Due process exists for precisely this reason,” he said, adding that his client is entitled to have the evidence tested through the legal process.
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evidence → exist → process
Miltenberg said his client was publicly accosted Thursday and that his client’s mother has received death threats.
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mother → say → threats
Miltenberg and his legal partner have also received death threats, he said.
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he → receive → threats
One of the students who was punished filed a lawsuit this year to challenge the findings of the 12-day hearing and a failed appeal at the university.
asserted
who → punish → university
According to the court filings, the student admitted he entered the room in the fraternity house where the woman was allegedly raped after seeing a group text inviting people to “free p---y”.
uncertain
woman → accord → y
He claimed both that he thought it was a joke and that he was concerned there was something wrong and wanted to check it out.
asserted
he → claim → it
The panel found he was responsible for attempting sexual exploitation because he saw the message and entered the room.
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he → find → room
But the panel did not find evidence that he sexually assaulted the woman or inhaled ketamine from her body, as some fraternity members were alleged to have done.
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members → find → body
The man tried to challenge the punishment by saying it was unfair for the panel to find him guilty of violating rules against attempted sexual exploitation because he was never accused of that.
asserted
he → try → that
He had been accused of violating rules against Sexual Assault and Sexual Exploitation, and the panel cleared him of those and reduced his case to attempted sexual exploitation.
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panel → accuse → exploitation
The court dismissed the man’s case, saying it was analogous to a defendant in a criminal case being convicted on a lesser charge.
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defendant → dismiss → charge
He is appealing.
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He → appeal → ?
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
