Cornell students stage rally in support of 'Jane Doe'

Cornell University students have staged a mass rally on Monday, voicing solidarity with a classmate whose gang-abuse allegations have ignited a national uproar and demanding that the Ivy League school take firmer action against sexual abuse 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 abuse and harassment.

The alleged victim, identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe, has said the university failed to adequately investigate and punish 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 abuse on campus.

In a lawsuit filed last month, Jane Doe said she was plied with drugs and alcohol and then 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 discipline on the fraternity members involved, including expulsions and other sanctions.

The men all denied any wrongdoing, some saying the 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 Monday demanded that Cornell expel or revoke the degrees of any student found complicit in the alleged abuse.

'PRISON SENTENCES, NOT TOPIC SENTENCES'

New York Governor Kathy Hochul last Friday 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.

Monday's boisterous but orderly demonstration 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 spaces. 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 in Monday's predawn hours by unknown activists who smashed two glass panes of the front door and spray-painted graffiti on the entryway.

Independent student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun, reported receiving a statement from the activists saying their vandalism was an act of protest against 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 Saturday, 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".