Students vandalize Cornell building over university's handling of gang-rape case
Overnight, student activists damaged a Cornell University administration building to protest how the school has handled a 2024 gang-rape lawsuit. The university is investigating while the case draws state-level scrutiny.
Early Monday, around 3am, student activists broke a glass entrance door and spray-painted slogans in red across the walls of Day Hall, Cornell University's main administrative building, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. The messages accused the school of protecting rapists while expelling protesters, and a security camera above one message was also painted over.
In a statement obtained by the student paper, the activists said their action was a response to a recent lawsuit over an alleged 2024 gang rape at a fraternity house, framed as a protest against the broader systems that allowed it to happen. They said they wanted to disrupt normal operations at the building that serves as the center of the university's administration.
Cornell spokesperson Kyle Kimball said the community's concerns were being heard but condemned the property damage, adding that the university was investigating and would respond under its policies and the law. In a separate manifesto, the activists defended their actions as nonviolent, arguing that property damage does not equate to violence while tolerating rape does.
The university has faced mounting criticism over perceived leniency toward seven fraternity members, from Chi Phi, implicated in the October 2024 incident. The alleged victim, who was 20 at the time, says she was drugged and raped repeatedly over seven hours. According to her lawyers, only two of the seven men were expelled, with the rest facing essays, workshops, or short suspensions, and none were arrested. The accused have denied wrongdoing.
Tompkins county district attorney Matthew Van Houten said his office was reviewing the case again after the woman's lawsuit presented an account that differed significantly from her original statement to police two years ago. New York governor Kathy Hochul announced she was appointing state attorney general Letitia James as special prosecutor to investigate the case. Cornell president Michael Kotlikoff said the university would examine the role of fraternities and sororities in campus life to prevent similar incidents in the future.
