A sworn statement given to Cornell University police by a student who alleges she was gang-raped at a fraternity house in October 2024 contains new details about the night in question, including her account of feeling completely incapacitated and unable to escape the situation.
The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, told campus police on November 14 2024 that by later in the evening she felt it was “the most intoxicated I’ve ever been in my life” and that she believed she was unable to make decisions because of her level of intoxication. She also described feeling trapped because her phone was across the room and she had no money to call a rideshare.
Doe said she initially agreed to a consensual threesome with two men after arriving at the Chi Phi fraternity house around 10:30 or 11 p.m. However, she told police that additional men entered the room uninvited and that she ran to hide under the covers of another bed because they were blocking her only path to the exit.
The lawsuit filed September 16 alleges that a fraternity member sent a message to a group chat inviting others to come upstairs where Doe was located. Seven Chi Phi fraternity brothers are named in the suit. None have faced criminal charges.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten released a statement Monday defending his office’s earlier decision not to pursue charges. He argued that Doe’s sworn statement described her participation in drug use and sexual activity as voluntary and that the evidence did not meet the legal threshold required under New York State Penal Law.
Van Houten’s public statement omitted portions of Doe’s account in which she described feeling most incapacitated and unable to leave the room. He told NBC News that a specific claim attributed to Doe in a separate interview transcript was not contained in the written statement his office received.
Doe’s attorney Thomas P. Giuffra called the DA’s characterization of events as consensual deeply troubling and questioned why his client would have gone to police at all if she believed nothing wrong had occurred.
Cornell University said it conducted a thorough Title IX investigation resulting in expulsions and suspensions but did not disclose which students received which outcomes citing federal privacy law. New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that Cornell agreed to bring in outside counsel to independently review how the university handled the case.