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By Marni Rose McFall and Jennifer Radcliffe
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New York’s governor appointed a special prosecutor Thursday to oversee an investigation into a woman’s allegations that she was repeatedly raped at a Cornell University fraternity house, saying she has lost faith in local law enforcement.
“Newly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation conducted by the Cornell Police Department and the decision by the Tompkins County District Attorney not to prosecute an alleged sexual assault on Cornell University’s campus in October 2024,” Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul said. “This has, in turn, undercut my faith, and the public’s faith, in the District Attorney’s ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time."
She signed an executive order Thursday appointing the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James as the special prosecutor.
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James reacted to the announcement on X Thursday night, saying in part that her office does "not take that responsibility lightly."
Cornell University agreed Wednesday to an independent investigation.
The Democratic governor is among those pressing Cornell and local law enforcement over their handling of the case.
Saanya Agarwal, Cornell senior and representative of the student assembly's women's issues, told CNN Wednesday night that students need more transparency, especially about how the accused were disciplined.
"The most concerning aspect was not knowing if the members who are accused were still walking on our campus," she told CNN. "I think that's exactly what the student body was terrified and angry about."
In response to a request for comment from Newsweek on Wednesday morning, Cornell directed Newsweek to two previous statements and a series of FAQ's referenced in this story. Newsweek asked after hours about the outside investigation.
The most recent of the two statements issued reads in part: "Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false. A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault."
The Cornell student newspaper broke the news that a former student—known as Jane Doe—had filed a lawsuit alleging that she had been raped repeatedly over seven hours at the Chi Pi fraternity house at Cornell in 2024.
The plaintiff told The Daily Sun in its original story, “What happened to me was horrific and deeply disturbing.”
“Almost two years later, I still carry the weight of its impact every day and night,” she said.
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Letitia James Appointment Sparks Backlash Online
James has handled many high-profile cases, including successfully suing President Donald Trump and his company for inflating asset values in 2022, sparking a heated legal and political battle with the president.
A New York judge ordered Trump last year to pay $355 million in penalties after finding he flagrantly padded financial statements provided to lenders and insurers. Interest and additional penalties for other executives at the Trump Organization, including Trump's sons, brought the total to $527 million.
Trump then urged the Department of Justice to indict James in 2025 on charges of mortgage fraud related to a property in Virginia. A federal judge dismissed the indictment and grand juries have since rejected attempts to revive it.
In August, Trump declared a "big win” over James after an appeals court overturned the $500 million-plus civil fraud penalty against him and two of his sons.
Trump called James "totally corrupt and incompetent" and lashed out at "her equally incompetent, hand picked, New York State Judge" in a Truth Social post.
Thursday's announcement of her office's appointment to the Cornell case sparked backlash on X.
"Why not appoint a competent lawyer instead?" wrote Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow and director of Constitutional Studies at the Manhattan Institute.
"Now it doesn't matter what the facts are, and what actually happened. 12 women who already hate men are going to give big Tish the win she needs," wrote Peachy Keenan, the pseudonym for a conservative writer and mother of five.
"Glad to know that such a paragon of justice who would never engage in a politicized, unjust prosecution will be at the helm," wrote Jeremy Carl, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute.
Criminal Case Reopened
On Monday, prosecutors confirmed that a criminal probe has been reopened.
Matthew Van Houten, the Tompkins County district attorney, said in a statement obtained by Newsweek: "I have been asked by the community to revisit the decision whether to pursue criminal charges against the seven fraternity members.”
Van Houten said that in 2024, criminal charges were not filed because the woman had not alleged that she had been gang raped or drugged against her will.
Cornell has backed the decision to reopen the criminal probe.
The school said in a statement: "Cornell University supports the decision of the Tompkins County District Attorney (DA) to provide an opportunity for the victim’s story in the 2024 Chi Phi fraternity sexual assault case to be heard by a criminal grand jury.”
Cornell's Response Amid Growing Backlash
Cornell has been criticized in the wake of the allegations being publicized and, on September 29, published a list of frequently asked questions about the incident.
In that list, the university confirmed that it had taken disciplinary action including “temporary restrictions and other restrictive measures.”
“Federal privacy law prohibits disclosure of specific information regarding individual students and disciplinary outcomes,” the university said. “Cornell therefore cannot publicly provide an individual-by-individual account of its findings or disciplinary actions.”
The Chi Phi chapter at Cornell closed in 2024 in the wake of the allegations and remains barred from campus.
Trey Robb, interim executive director of Chi Phi Fraternity, told Newsweek that the fraternity “condemns sexual assault and drug and alcohol abuse in the strongest possible terms. Neither has any place in our fraternity or on college campuses.”
Robb said that Chi Phi’s records stated that three days after the police report was filed, “the Xi chapter voted unanimously to remove the accused members from its rolls.”
“The chapter also recommended that our national fraternity permanently expel them, and our Grand Council did so at a subsequent meeting,” he said. "These actions went beyond anything the law or Cornell University required of us. As a private membership fraternity, Chi Phi acted within its own authority at both the chapter and national levels to remove men suspected of betraying the values of our brotherhood. They failed to meet the standards we set for every brother, and accountability is how we will always respond to behavior that falls short of those standards.”
Several of the men named deny wrongdoing. A lawyer for one of the seven men named in the lawsuit said on behalf of his client in a statement to Newsweek on Monday that the claims are “intentionally dishonest” and “morally repugnant.”
Meanwhile, an attorney for Jane Doe said in a statement to Newsweek, “The desperate protestations of innocence are expected. What else could he say?”
'Cornell Has Not Listened': Daily Sun Editor
Cornell’s student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, continues to criticize the university after breaking the news of an alleged instance of sexual violence
In a letter from the editor, published on September 29, Sophia Dasser, the paper’s editor-in-chief, said that the university “has not listened,” as she called for people to share their thoughts on Cornell’s handling of the situation.
In the letter, The Daily Sun shared a form where they are looking to gather reactions from students and staff, as well as alumni, parents, faculty and members of the wider community.
“We hope to understand how much you trust the University’s reporting process,” Dasser wrote.
The outlet will then look to publish the responses together “so that our community’s response can be read in its entirety.”
“Reporting on a case does not make survivors less safe; silence does,” Dasser wrote in the letter.
In a letter to the editor, published the same day and written by Miriam Brody, Ph.D., and Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Professor Emerita of Human Development, Brody and Brumberg called for the university to “promote educational opportunities such as campus-wide programs to address drunkenness, doping and their companions—misogyny and violence.”
Transcript of Jane Doe’s Interview with Campus Police Made Public
CBS News obtained a transcript of the alleged victim's interview with campus police back in 2024.
In the transcript, Jane Doe differentiates initial sexual activity from what happened later in the night.
“As much as I can be because, again, I was super drunk when I got there … But I was pretty OK with all this,” she said.
“I was being hit at the same time. Physically hit very, very hard,” the transcript reads per CBS’s report.
Describing what happened later in the night, Jane Doe said, “I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped.”
Petition to 'Hold Cornell University Accountable' Surpasses 100,000 Signatures
A petition entitled “Hold Cornell University accountable for campus sexual assault” has hit 104,572 signatures as of reporting on Wednesday morning.
The petition was started on September 28, amassing over 100,000 signatures over a two-day period.
It describes the university’s response as “alarmingly inadequate.”
“Cornell University must re-evaluate its disciplinary procedures to ensure that they reflect the seriousness of the crimes committed and that they are in line with the standards of justice that the institution claims to uphold,” the description of the petition states.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick, Emma Lee-Sang and Edward T. Cummins
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