Cornell University president vows 'rigorous' probe in gangrape case, shares new video: 'My heart aches'

The president of Cornell University voiced support Saturday for an external review of the institution facing widespread outcry over allegations made by a former student that she was gang-raped at a fraternity in 2024." We must also investigate allegations rigorously and fairly, including providing due process. In conjunction with our board of trustees, I welcome the independent review by an outside law firm into all aspects of Cornell's handling of the 2024 matter," President Michael Kotlikoff said in a video shared on Cornell's website.Kotlikoff said his school's administration "must do better" amid the criticism and fallout of its investigation into the alleged gangrape."

I believe we as an administration and we as a community must do better," Kotlikoff said in a video message posted online Saturday. “We must do everything we can to prevent what happened to Jane Doe and everyone before her and anyone after her from ever happening again,” he added. "This has been one of the most difficult weeks in our history, and I know many of you are angry, saddened, and struggling," Kotlikoff continued.

“What happened to Jane Doe in 2024 is deeply disturbing and will weigh heavily on our community for years to come,” he added. “My heart aches when I think of what she experienced,” he said. “It raises heartbreaking and troubling issues about sexual assault, dehumanization, and aspects of party culture, alcohol, and drug use. It also raises questions around the investigations conducted after the allegations were reported,” he added.

Kotlikoff said in the video the school supported the decision to reopen the criminal investigation, but added that Cornell "will not wait for the investigation or the review to be completed before we act." "We will continue taking every step necessary to make Cornell an institution that leads not just in what we say about these issues, but in the work that we do to address them." In the video message, Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff said the school would take steps to prevent a similar situation in the future.

That includes "a serious look at the role of fraternities and sororities in campus life," Kotlikoff said. "At their best, these organisations can provide students with friendship, belonging, mentorship and a powerful sense of community," he said. "But being part of a group can never diminish individual responsibility." The university will seek input, he said, from students, alumni and others on how to "preserve what is valuable about Greek life while strengthening individual accountability, transparency and a culture in which every member understands their responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of others."

The lawsuit against Cornell, seven fraternity members and others, alleges that the school failed to adequately punish some of the accused students. Gangrape case The criminal investigation into the 2024 gang rape was reopened Monday, with New York Governor Kathy Hochul appointing the state's top prosecutor, Attorney General Letitia James, to lead the effort. The former student, identified only as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit last month against the university and seven men, alleging she was drugged and raped in October 2024 at the university's Chi Phi fraternity chapter when she was 20 years old.

The incident was detailed in a graphic lawsuit filed last month, drawing harsh backlash against the Ivy League institution and New York prosecutors for not filing any criminal charges against the accused perpetrators. The plaintiff claimed in the civil suit that she was drugged with ketamine, assaulted and raped by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity, a social club for male students. The accused men have denied all wrongdoing, the New York Times reported.

Hochul slammed how the initial investigation into the complainant's claims unfolded at Cornell, which is located in Ithaca in central New York state. "She sat for hours and told [police] exactly what happened to her. And according to new reports, she could not have been clearer that she was 100 percent confident that she had been raped," Hochul was quoted by AFP as saying. (With inputs from AFP)