'Must do better': Cornell president's apology lands after prosecutors buried the evidence

ITHACA, NEW YORK: Cornell University's president broke his silence on Saturday with an eight-minute video message calling the alleged gang rape of a student at a fraternity house in 2024 'deeply disturbing' — and conceding, on the record, that the Ivy League university 'must do better'. 'This is a defining moment in Cornell's history,' Michael I. Kotlikoff said in the message released October 3. 'My heart aches when I think of what she experienced. It raises heartbreaking and troubling issues about sexual assault, dehumanization, and aspects of party culture, alcohol, and drug use.' The apology lands amid mounting fury. The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, has sued the university and seven former students over the alleged assault by multiple members of the Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024. Records obtained by The New York Times show that in November 2024, the Tompkins County District Attorney's office declined to review additional evidence — including further interviews gathered by campus police — beyond the six-page statement signed by the accuser, because prosecutors had already decided that 'criminal charges would not be pursued in this case.' The fallout has been swift. During a student assembly hearing on Thursday that ran for more than two and a half hours, students voiced anger and grief; several speakers called for Kotlikoff's resignation. Jane Wang, a sophomore, told the forum that when she reported being sexually assaulted on campus a year ago, she was met with paperwork, little guidance, and a process that left her with 'an overall sense of helplessness within a broader institution.' All fraternity social events have been cancelled for the weekend, and student groups are planning protests for Monday. Kotlikoff said he supports Governor Kathy Hochul's decision to hand the criminal investigation to the state attorney general, and that Cornell's Board of Trustees would announce details next week of an independent review by an outside law firm into the university's handling of the case. 'We don't have all the answers, but we are committed to investigating and finding the answers our community deserves,' he said. The university says it opened an investigation when the report came in, condemned the alleged behaviour, indefinitely suspended the fraternity, and after a months-long inquiry disciplined or expelled some students — though it has declined to give specifics, citing student privacy rules. It also set up a presidential task force on sexual assault in 2025. None of it has contained the outrage that a case this serious could be handled this badly — and kept this quiet for this long.