Inside explosive Cornell rape allegations: 7 men accused, conflicting accounts and a political firestorm
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Video NY AG Letitia James appointed special prosecutor in Cornell sexual assault probe New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appoints the state attorney general as special prosecutor to oversee the investigation into a Cornell University sexual assault lawsuit. Fox News senior correspondent Eric Shawn reports on the developing case from New York City.
A sexually charged case that roiled Cornell University two years ago has exploded onto the national stage, fueling a fierce debate over sex, consent and criminality in college hookup culture.
Seven former Chi Phi fraternity brothers are accused in a civil lawsuit of drugging and raping a female Cornell student during a night of drinking, drugs and group sex at their fraternity house in October 2024.
The accuser, identified in court papers by the pseudonym Jane Doe, alleges the men sexually assaulted her after she arrived intoxicated and was pressured into taking ketamine and other substances. The men have denied wrongdoing, with some maintaining the sexual activity was consensual and others denying they participated in it. No criminal charges have been filed against the seven men.
At the center of the controversy are sharply conflicting accounts of what happened that night — including differences between what Doe said in the weeks afterward, what prosecutors say they received from Cornell police and the explosive allegations contained in a civil lawsuit filed nearly two years later.
The Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University, left, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul with Attorney General Letitia James, right. James has opened an active criminal investigation into sexual assault allegations stemming from an October 2024 incident at the fraternity house. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who initially declined to pursue charges, has said Doe's November 2024 sworn statement did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped and instead described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as "voluntary, conscious, and consensual."
Doe was 20 years old and a Cornell undergraduate when the events at the center of the case unfolded on the night of Oct. 19, 2024.
According to her lawsuit, Doe began the evening drinking vodka at her Tri Delta sorority house before attending a sorority social event at a downtown Ithaca bar. She later went to a second bar before leaving alone around 11 p.m. and walking to the Chi Phi fraternity house to meet a friend who was a member.
By the time she arrived at Chi Phi, Doe was visibly intoxicated and had consumed roughly 10 standard drinks over three hours, according to her own complaint.
Once inside, Doe alleges the fraternity member gave her another beer before proposing a threesome with another fraternity brother. The lawsuit maintains that Doe was already too intoxicated to consent.
Doe alleges she was then taken upstairs, where two fraternity members pressured her into snorting what they said was ketamine, a drug she says she had never previously taken. She alleges they also gave her marijuana and high-proof liquor before engaging in sexual acts with her without her consent.
The lawsuit alleges other fraternity members entered the room as the night progressed. At 1:42 a.m., according to a screenshot reproduced in the complaint, one member posted "free p—y" in a Snapchat group for active Chi Phi members. The complaint alleges the message encouraged other members to come upstairs.
CBS News reported Friday that it obtained additional Snapchat messages from the fraternity group, including a photograph of Doe with another man that was shared with dozens of Chi Phi members that night. Just before the photo was posted, one participant wrote, "Like you can walk in and whip it out," while another subsequently asked, "Shop still open?" and received the reply, "Yeah."
Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, is facing renewed scrutiny over its handling of sexual assault allegations stemming from an October 2024 incident at the Chi Phi fraternity house. (TW Farlow/Getty Images)
Attorneys for several of the accused men have denied criminal wrongdoing by their clients. An attorney for one of the men told NBC News the lawsuit was "intentionally dishonest" and maintained his client had engaged in immature and inappropriate Snapchat messages but committed no crime. An attorney for another said the public narrative was "incomplete" and inconsistent with evidence developed during Cornell's investigation, including Doe's own statements.
Doe alleges she became increasingly impaired and eventually "completely incapacitated" as the encounters continued. The complaint says the final alleged assault ended around 5:45 a.m., when Doe lost consciousness.
Contemporaneous texts, interviews and university records show Doe described different portions of the encounter differently in the days and weeks that followed, while also expressing distress about what had happened.
When she returned to her sorority house around 11:15 a.m. on Oct. 20, Doe told her roommates she had taken ketamine and had sex with multiple men, according to records from Cornell's Title IX proceedings obtained by The New York Times . One roommate said Doe did not initially describe what happened as rape or sexual assault, while another recalled that she appeared to be "in shock" and did not seem to understand the gravity of what she was recounting.
The following day, one of the men Doe would later accuse apologized to her for how the night unfolded, saying he felt terrible that he and another fraternity member had been too intoxicated to stop things before they got "way out of hand," according to text messages reviewed by the Times.
Doe responded that "none of the sexual stuff was illegal" and said she had enjoyed being with the two men.
Other contemporaneous evidence suggests Doe was already struggling with the encounter. On Oct. 22, she visited Cornell Health seeking treatment for a…
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