Members of Cornell University's student government say they officially alerted administrators to a growing culture of sexual assault and drugging within the school's fraternities two years before a student known in legal filings as Jane Doe reported that she was gang-raped at a campus fraternity house, and that their warning fell on deaf ears.
Cornell’s Student Assembly passed a resolution in December 2022, demanding university leaders address “a known rape culture where victims are silenced and perpetrators are often never held accountable for their actions.”
“Cornell needs to do better in supporting survivors and fighting the persistent rape culture on campus,” the measure reads.
But by October 2024, Jane Doe alleged she was plied with alcohol and ketamine and sexually assaulted by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity. Doe said she dropped out of Cornell because of how the school handled the incident.
Amisha Chowdhury, a Cornell graduate who served on the student assembly at the time of the resolution, said she was saddened but not surprised by the details of Doe’s case.
“ This goes back years and years, and there's a paper trail,” she said in an interview.
Cornell’s former president, Martha Pollack, responded to the 2022 resolution a month later by pointing to the school’s code of conduct, a temporary ban on fraternity social events, and encouraging people to report allegations to campus police.
Former members of Cornell student government who spoke with Gothamist said they were disappointed by the response.
“Had the administration acted on our proposals and expanded survivor resources and services, Jane Doe might have stayed in school and graduated,” Chowdhury said. “It’s heartbreaking that survivors like her are forced to leave because the university failed to protect them.”
A representative for Cornell University, Rebecca Valli, did not respond to questions about the resolution and the administration’s response, but said the school has expanded prevention, education, and accountability efforts for fraternities and sororities since 2024. Former President Martha Pollack, who retired in June 2024, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The student assembly consists of 37 elected members and serves as the “principal liaison” between students and the administration. Seven members signed the measure condemning Greek life. Gothamist attempted to reach all seven former students and heard back from two.
The student assembly’s charter requires Cornell’s president to formally respond to all resolutions it passes.
The former members of the Cornell student government said they were spurred to write the resolution after university police sent out campus-wide emails reporting five cases of drugging and two reports of sexual assault over the course of a single week.
The incidents, reported between Nov. 3 and 9, 2022, all occurred at fraternity addresses, according to the resolution. Emails shared with Gothamist show police encouraged students to cover their drinks and use the “buddy system” when going to parties.
Kelly Chan, who served as the assembly’s vice president of external affairs, said the official police figures provided confirmation for the kinds of stories many students were hearing about fraternities on the “down low” through friends and social media.
“ It was really a time where a few of us, including myself, were like, ‘Enough,’” Chan said.
The assembly’s resolution cited examples from campus Greek life that student leaders saw as evidence of a normalized culture of sexual assault. According to the resolution, the Cornell chapter of Theta Delta Chi was known as “Thumpty,” from “the sound of bodies hitting the floor after victims have been roofied”; Sigma Alpha Epsilon was called “Sexual Assault Expected”; and Pi Kappa Alpha had the nickname “Spike,” for spiking women’s drinks.
National representatives for Theta Delta Chi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Pi Kappa Alpha is firm in its position that sexual misconduct of any sort is a violation of Fraternity Standards," the fraternity’s spokesperson, Aranda Hanks Gehringer, said in a written statement. “More importantly, it is a crime, and we support holding individuals accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
Former student assembly members accused the administration of protecting fraternities at the expense of victims.
“It seems like the alumni donors of these Greek life institutions are prioritized because most of the time, these issues are just put under the rug,” Chowdhury said. “Sure, they might just ban one or two fraternities or organizations on campus, but the reality is the underlying issues are never addressed, so everyone gets to get away with it.”
Chan said the experience led to her wider disillusionment with student government, and she resigned her position shortly after. “We didn’t really have a say,” she said.
Chowdhury said she hopes the attention on Jane Doe’s case leads to campus reforms going forward. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this month appointed the state attorney general as special prosecutor in the case, and Cornell has brought on the former acting U.S. Attorney General to conduct an independent review.
“The biggest change comes out of public shame,” Chowdhury said. “I hope the only good thing that comes out of it is the scrutiny that they're facing, which will hopefully lead to some tangible changes.”
