Within the aftermath of allegations by a former Cornell College scholar that she was gang raped in 2024 by a number of members of a college fraternity, the college’s college senate handed a no-confidence decision Friday condemning the varsity’s dealing with of sexual violence on campus.
“This vote is a reckoning for our College,” the co-sponsors of the measure stated in a press release. “It’s a name for actual, systemic change; not a slow-moving taskforce, weakly enforced ban on fraternity events, or costly PR injury management, however significant, evidence-based steps to scale back the incidence of sexual assault on campus and supply important help to and justice for survivors.”
The decision reads, “Resolved: That the College Senate has no confidence within the skill of the central administration to successfully handle the continued disaster of sexual assault at Cornell College.”
Seventy-five members of the school senate voted in favor of the decision, 5 voted towards it, 50 abstained from the vote, and 5 didn’t vote, in keeping with the decision co-sponsors.
The passing of the decision represents the clearest rebuke of the varsity’s management because the controversy over the varsity’s response to the allegations started, although the school senate doesn’t have the authority to power any modifications.
A then-undergraduate scholar recognized solely as Jane Doe made a grievance to campus police in November 2024, three weeks after the alleged incident occurred, that she had been raped by a group of men on the Chi Phi fraternity home. She has filed a civil swimsuit towards the boys and the college alleging that she had been drugged and raped.
“We imagine that the College Senate didn’t attain this determination frivolously and thought of all obtainable info,” Jane Doe stated in a press release relating to the no-confidence vote. “We’re hopeful that this shall be one more step ahead to teach and help the Cornell group by addressing the longstanding scourge of sexual assault on campus.”
Folks stroll inside Rockefeller Corridor at Cornell College in Ithaca, New York, October 14, 2026.
Matt Burkhartt/Reuters
New York Legal professional Normal Letitia James is conducting an investigation into the incident, and Cornell can also be conducting an inside probe of its response to the allegations.
All seven fraternity brothers named within the civil lawsuit have denied wrongdoing and no legal prices have been filed within the case.
Friday’s no-confidence vote got here as 4 males named in Jane Doe’s lawsuit joined the legal push to have James faraway from the legal probe.
In complete, 5 of the seven males accused within the lawsuit say they need a choose to switch James as particular prosecutor, arguing {that a} social media publish she made wherein she stated of Jane Doe, “I am holding her in my coronary heart and in my prayers … you are not alone. We stand with you” demonstrates “precise or perceived conflicts of curiosity or bias.”
The group is constant the authorized combat regardless of information this week that James appointed Jacqueline Kelly, a former intercourse crimes federal prosecutor, to steer the matter and report back to her workplace. The group argued that “whereas the appointment of Ms. Kelly modifications the face of the investigation, it doesn’t set up any change in final authority.”
“[The] appointment doesn’t remove Petitioner’s underlying considerations about Legal professional James conducting a good investigation,” lawyer Andrew Miltenberg wrote in a court docket submitting. “The announcement doesn’t state that Legal professional Normal James has actually recused herself, relinquished supervisory authority, surrendered charging authority, or agreed to not take part in selections regarding Petitioner.”
