New York prosecutors have reopened the Cornell assault case after a former student filed a civil lawsuit over alleged gang rape.
A grand jury will review the case to see if any charges are warranted after the original probe into the alleged 2024 assault resulted in no criminal charges, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said on Monday, September 28.
He said the allegations in the filed civil complaint were largely different from the woman’s statement to police two years ago.
“The decision made in November of 2024 that the evidence did not support the filing of criminal charges was legally correct,” Van Houten said.
The attorney also said the grand jury will weigh in on the testimony of the former Cornell University student, identified as Jane Doe, as well as new evidence brought up by the claims in the civil lawsuit filed on September 16.
In the civil complaint, Doe alleges seven members of Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity drugged and sexually assaulted her at the frat house in October 2024.
The group, also referred to as the Xi Chapter at Cornell University, invited other members in a group chat to join the assault, according to a screenshot of a Snapchat group message cited in the lawsuit.
The seven members named in the suit have never been criminally charged, but the complaint alleges they were issued temporary suspensions.
Meanwhile, the Ithaca Police Department released a statement on Monday, September 28, that said, It was “disturbed to hear about the allegations related to the sexual assault of a Cornell student during October of 2024.”
The department observed that it learned about the alleged incident only recently through the media and said the incident was not reported to the agency.
Doe’s civil lawsuit and the announcement that the case is being reopened have drawn the national spotlight.
2026-09-29 13:07:00
