A woman who says she was gang-raped at a Cornell University fraternity told the school’s investigators last year that she “felt like bait” as the attackers were “like lions around me,” according to records from the school’s disciplinary investigation.
uncertain
attackers → say → investigation
The documents, reviewed Friday by The Associated Press, include excerpts of interviews Cornell’s investigators did with the woman and the men she accused and shed more light on the university’s handling of the case.
asserted
she → review → case
While heavily redacted, the records offer a fuller but sometimes conflicting timeline of events and a glimpse at how the men responded to the allegations.
asserted
men → redact → allegations
Some disputed the woman’s account and said they weren’t involved in any assault.
asserted
they → dispute → assault
The woman, identified in court papers only as Jane Doe, sued Cornell and seven former students last month, alleging she was given ketamine and repeatedly assaulted at a fraternity house in October 2024.
asserted
she → identify → October
She went to campus police three weeks after the encounter and gave a detailed account of what happened, but the local district attorney decided not to file criminal charges or push for more investigation after reviewing a police summary of her interview.
asserted
attorney → go → interview
Only the school’s investigation, under the federal Title IX law, persisted, with a goal of deciding discipline for the students involved.
asserted
investigation → persist → students
Lawsuit by one of the accused men reveals details on investigation
This week, a lawyer for one of the accused men filed documents from the school’s investigation in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the university’s punishment and remove it from his academic record.
asserted
that → accuse → record
They include a 99-page report on a campus hearing panel’s disciplinary findings and a summary of events submitted by the university’s lawyers.
asserted
They → include → lawyers
Though only a fraction of the thousands of pages amassed in the investigation, the records show the breadth of the university’s inquiry — including 50 interviews with 32 witnesses and 12 days of hearings.
asserted
records → amass → hearings
Late Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to lead a renewed criminal investigation, saying she had lost faith in Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten.
asserted
she → appoint → Houten
According to the Title IX documents filed in court, which are only a portion of the entire investigation, the woman and several of the men gave investigators similar accounts of drug use and sexual activity that took place at the Chi Phi fraternity house — but differed sharply in how much of it was consensual.
uncertain
much → accord → it
Snapchat messages drew other men
asserted
messages → draw → men
The woman had been invited there by a fraternity member for whom she had long held strong romantic feelings and sexual interest, according to the disciplinary panel’s findings.
uncertain
she → invite → findings
The panel found that she initially consented to sex with that man and one of his friends, though she later alleged in her lawsuit that she had been pressured into taking ketamine, marijuana and alcohol and was too intoxicated to consent.
asserted
she → find → ketamine
Then other men began showing up in the room, some drawn by a message one of the fraternity brothers sent to a Snapchat group at 1:42 a.m. using a vulgar term to advertise that a woman’s body was freely available.
asserted
body → begin → term
Later, another person in the chat asked if the “shop” was still open.
asserted
shop → ask → chat
The woman told investigators that her intoxication had rendered her partly defenseless.
asserted
her → tell → investigators
She said she remembered smoking marijuana and said she knew she took ketamine, her first time doing so, but didn’t have an independent memory of it.
asserted
she → say → it
The drug, she said, left her in a state of “vague consciousness.”
asserted
she → say → consciousness
“You look like an operating human being,” she told school investigators at a hearing in May of 2025.
uncertain
she → look → 2025
“You don’t look dead or asleep necessarily.
asserted
You → look → ?
Your brain is not functioning at its proper level.”
asserted
brain → function → level
She said some of the men inhaled drugs off her unclothed body.
asserted
some → say → body
“I felt like bait.
asserted
I → feel → bait
I felt like lions around me.
asserted
I → feel → me
It just was a totally debilitating place to be in,” she told investigators.
asserted
she → tell → investigators
Accused student says he only entered room for a wellness check
One of the men the woman accused of snorting drugs off her body — but not participating in other elements of the assault — denied her account.
asserted
woman → accuse → account
He told investigators he was in the room for no more than five minutes, and didn’t go there for sex.
asserted
he → tell → sex
We were just checking out to see if everything” was OK, he said.
asserted
he → check → ?
He insisted that he did not see the woman naked at any time — she was under bed coverings, he said — and did not partake in drug use.
asserted
he → insist → use
He said he sat on a couch and chatted for a few minutes, then left after the woman and another man there both indicated they were all right.
asserted
they → say → minutes
A Cornell disciplinary panel later cleared him of sexual assault or exploitation allegations, but found him responsible for attempted sexual exploitation because it didn’t believe his claim to have gone to the room for altruistic reasons.
uncertain
it → clear → reasons
The fraternity member, who is challenging Cornell’s disciplinary process in court, also posted in the Snapchat conversation, saying what was happening in the room was not a joke, adding: “Firsthand pov not a bit.”
asserted
happening → challenge → room
The student later told investigators he did not remember sending the message, according to Cornell’s account.
uncertain
he → tell → account
Woman’s lawsuit seeks tougher penalties
asserted
lawsuit → seek → penalties
In her lawsuit, Jane Doe accused two of the other men who entered the room of performing sex acts on her without her consent, while she was partially incapacitated.
asserted
she → accuse → consent
She accused another man of kissing her without her consent.
asserted
She → accuse → consent
According to the Title IX documents, Jane Doe told investigators two other men stood at the foot of the bed acting “more like voyeurs than anything.”
uncertain
men → accord → anything
The lawsuit seeks to hold all seven men liable for rape.
asserted
men → seek → rape
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
