US Ivy League student 'drugged and gang-raped by seven fraternity members' as accused escaped punishment by 'writing essays'
The case has sparked outrage on campus and online after it emerged that the alleged perpetrators were reportedly told to write essays as punishment
Prosecutors have reopened an investigation into allegations a Cornell University student was drugged and gang-raped by seven fraternity members in an hours-long assault.
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The woman, referred to as Jane Doe in court documents, alleges she was assaulted at the Ivy League university’s Chi Phi fraternity house on 19 October 2024, while she was intoxicated and incapable of consenting.
The 101-page lawsuit included an image from a fraternity Snapchat group chat, in which one participant allegedly alerted other members to the possibility of a sexual encounter with the woman.
At around 1.42 am, one of the men allegedly sent a message to the fraternity’s Snapchat group chat – titled “Chi Phi Actives” – stating there was “free pu**y” upstairs.
Multiple fraternity members then entered the room, where Doe alleges they pressured her into taking more ketamine and subjected her to an hours-long assault that continued until approximately 5.45 am.
Her civil lawsuit claims Cornell failed to protect her and then failed to properly punish those accused, alleging they were handed temporary suspensions and given the chance to “mitigate their conduct by submitting essays”.
The alleged victim says she reported the incident to Cornell University Police on 8 November 2024.
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Cornell University supports the decision of the Tompkins County District Attorney 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 University (@Cornell) September 28, 2026
Our statement: https://t.co/FIW8I8JYlU
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said on Monday the case would be presented to a grand jury, which will decide whether there is enough evidence for criminal charges.
Mr Van Houten said his office initially concluded the evidence did not meet the legal threshold for charges.
He said Jane Doe’s first statement to authorities in November 2024 did not allege she had been drugged against her will or gang-raped.
Instead, he said, the initial account described the drug use and sexual activity as voluntary, conscious and consensual.
In response, her lawyer Thomas Giuffra said she had been traumatised, numb and in “self-preservation mode” in the immediate aftermath.
He said she had spoken only to the officer who first took her complaint - and argued police should have carried out repeated interviews, gathered evidence and built a fuller case.
Doe’s attorney said Cornell had expelled two of the seven accused students.
Cornell has denied that the men faced token consequences, claiming its own investigation was heard by a panel of trained staff and faculty, which imposed a range of sanctions including expulsions and suspensions.
It said no one was offered essays as their "sole" punishment, calling suggestions that those involved faced minimal consequences “false”.
The Ithaca Police Department said it was "disturbed" to hear about the allegations, adding that the incident was not reported to the force at the time and that it had learned of the allegations "recently through the media".
Cornell has not disclosed the number of students expelled or suspended, citing federal student privacy rules, but the Chi Phi chapter was suspended in 2024 and remains barred from campus.
A lawyer for one of the men named in the civil action denied the allegations.
He said his client made an “immature” Snapchat comment but did not take part in sexual activity with Jane Doe, did not touch her and did not take ketamine.
US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sharply criticized Cornell University during a town hall titled "Students vs. Billionaires" in Ithaca.
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 28, 2026
Addressing campus dissent, Ocasio-Cortez noted that several students were suspended and one was placed on track for deportation after… pic.twitter.com/bvCRFqg24f
The case has sparked outrage beyond the Ivy League campus.
Florence Pugh spoke out about the alleged sexual assault on Instagram - in a post she later said had been "censored" by the Meta-owned platform.
“This is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us,“ Pugh wrote.
”You need to be leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behaviour as much as we are. How can you expect us to trust that it’s “not all men” when in moments like this, many of you stay quiet?”
In a later post, the actor called out Instagram for censoring her post, saying: "Instagram decided to block my post from getting in front of the right people. Tut tut tut. Oh dear. That doesn’t look great does it?"
US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned a “culture of rape” at elite institutions like Cornell during a Sunday visit to downtown Ithaca.
“Jane Doe, that survivor, lost her education because you can’t stay in school when something like that happens to you,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“She had to lose her education, and those men were protected by an institution and granted an Ivy League degree as a reward. Never again.”