Hochul says woman in alleged Cornell gang-rape case was failed by authorities

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Friday she would ensure all the facts of an alleged gang-rape at a Cornell University fraternity house come to light, sharply criticizing how the institution handled the 2024 case.

Hochul, a Democrat, said the woman who reported the alleged assault was failed by the very people obligated to protect her, including police and the county prosecutor. She said she was deeply disturbed by how Cornell's police handled the matter.

Attorney general takes over

On Thursday night, Hochul announced that state Attorney General Letitia James would take over the case as special prosecutor. At a press conference Friday, Hochul said she would not allow the case to be swept under the rug, while James pledged a full and fair investigation that could lead to evidence being presented to a grand jury and potential criminal charges.

Hochul criticized police for not escalating the matter to the district attorney in 2024 after the woman reported she had been gang-raped by five men at a fraternity house while intoxicated. She also pointed to what she called a gap in state law regarding voluntary intoxication, saying it should not matter whether someone chose to use drugs or alcohol — voluntary intoxication is never a license for sexual assault.

Hochul said she lost faith in Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten's ability to oversee the case after he declined to prosecute it in 2024.

Lawsuit and university response

The woman, who goes by the pseudonym Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit in September alleging she was drugged and repeatedly raped over seven hours at a Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024, when she was 20. Of the seven men implicated, two were expelled from the university, but none were arrested or faced legal consequences. She is now suing all seven men, along with the university, the fraternity and others. Lawyers for two of the accused have denied the allegations.

Van Houten said the lawsuit's claims differed dramatically from the woman's original statement to police, though he later acknowledged he had never seen her detailed account and had relied on a report written by a campus police officer.

Cornell has suspended the Chi Phi fraternity indefinitely and agreed to bring in outside lawyers to independently review how it handled the woman's allegations.