Tompkins County DA Matthew Van Houten reopened Cornell's 2024 assault probe, saying he will seek charges against seven Chi Phi members and present the case to a grand jury. A civil suit alleges a student was given ketamine and sexually assaulted for hours.
Van Houten said he initially declined to prosecute in November 2024 because Doe's sworn police statement did not say she had been drugged against her will or gang-raped. He said it described her drug use and sexual activity as voluntary, conscious and consensual; his office could not have relied on a civil lawsuit filed nearly two years later.
The suit, filed Sept. 14 against Cornell and seven Chi Phi members, seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. It alleges two members pressured Jane Doe, then a 20-year-old student, to snort ketamine before assaulting her; other fraternity members arrived, and the assault lasted for hours. Cornell says its months-long Title IX inquiry included at least 12 hearings; the suit says two accused members were expelled and others received lesser sanctions. Cornell supports reopening, says it imposed consequential punishments, and notes the Chi Phi chapter remains barred from campus. It cites federal privacy law for not disclosing individual sanctions.
