Cornell students stage anti-rape rally in support of ‘Jane Doe’

• Cornell students rallied demanding stronger action against sexual violence after a classmate accused fraternity members of gang rape and criticised the university's handling of the case.
• The alleged victim sued the fraternity members and university, while New York's attorney-general was appointed special prosecutor after the local probe was reopened.
• Protesters called for university president Kotlikoff's resignation, condemned a "culture of rape", and organised a large, peaceful demonstration with chants and signs supporting survivors.

ITHACA, New York – Cornell University students staged a mass rally on Oct 5, voicing solidarity with a classmate whose gang-rape allegations have ignited a national uproar and demanding that the Ivy League school take firmer action against sexual violence on campus.

The protesters called for an external inquiry into how Cornell’s administration has handled the matter, independent hearings and uniform minimum sanctions for all sexual assaults on campus, and better training for campus police in responding to complaints of sexual violence and harassment.

The alleged gang-rape victim, identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe, has said the university failed to adequately investigate and punish the campus fraternity members who were involved.

Some demonstrators also called for the resignation of Cornell president Michael Kotlikoff and other members of his administration, saying their policies have perpetuated what protesters called a “culture of rape” on campus.

In a lawsuit filed in September, Jane Doe said she was plied with drugs and alcohol, and then sexually assaulted by several members of the campus chapter of the Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024 after she had become incapacitated.

Doe, who was 20 at the time, named seven Chi Phi members as defendants in the suit, along with the fraternity chapter, a local bar, her own sorority, and the university.

She had reported the alleged assault to police several weeks after the fact, leading to an internal university investigation and a law enforcement probe, but the local prosecutor declined to bring criminal charges in the case.

Cornell, which has defended its response to the original report, shut down the Chi Phi chapter and imposed a range of disciplinary measures on the fraternity members involved, including expulsions and other sanctions.

The men denied wrongdoing, some saying the sexual activity was consensual and others disputing their participation, The New York Times has reported, citing Cornell documents.

The lawsuit criticised the university for having offered some of the alleged perpetrators a chance to mitigate their penalties by writing essays. The demonstrators on Oct 5 demanded that Cornell expel or revoke the degrees of any student found complicit in the alleged gang rape.

‘Prison sentences, not topic sentences’

New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Oct 2 appointed the state’s attorney-general, Letitia James, as a special prosecutor to take over a newly reopened criminal investigation, saying she was “deeply disturbed” by how local authorities originally dealt with the case.

The boisterous but orderly demonstration on Oct 5 included a march by several hundred students, faculty supporters and community activists – perhaps 1,000 or more – through the campus in the upstate New York town of Ithaca.

The protesters, chanting “one struggle, one fight” and “no justice, no peace” filled the central pedestrian plaza on campus, and spilled over into adjacent areas. Many carried signs with slogans such as “justice for Jane Doe”, “we stand for survivors” and “prison sentences, not topic sentences”.

The march ended at Cornell’s main administration building, which was defaced on Oct 5 in predawn hours by unknown activists who smashed two glass panes of the front door and spray-painted graffiti on the entryway, including one message that read: “AT CORNELL RAPISTS ARE PROTECTED.”

Independent student newspaper the Cornell Daily Sun reported receiving a statement from the activists saying their vandalism was an act of protest of the alleged assault and “global systems of power that allowed this to happen in the first place”.

The rally came a day after Doe and her lawyer said they had received multiple threats since filing the lawsuit, which has prompted a public outcry, particularly on social media under the banner “#IamJaneDoe”, over why law enforcement declined to pursue charges in 2024.

The uproar also stirred a backlash by others who have questioned whether keeping Doe anonymous was fair because it denied those implicated in the matter the chance to publicly face their accuser.

Addressing the controversy on Oct 3, Kotlikoff promised in a video message to examine the role of fraternities and sororities on campus, saying, “being part of a group can never diminish individual responsibility”. REUTERS