Only two Cornell University students found responsible for sexual assaults on campus between mid-2020 and mid-2024 were expelled—despite the cases occurring before seven fraternity members were accused of gang-raping a woman.
Cornell reviewed 51 formal sexual-assault complaints during that period. Title IX investigations determined that students were responsible in 16 cases, CNN reports.
Alongside the two expulsions, six students were reprimanded and seven received other sanctions, including written reprimands, disciplinary probation, directed study and no-contact orders.
Under Cornell’s guidelines, directed study requires students to read or watch “relevant materials,” then discuss what they learned and how it relates to their case, according to a guide from the university’s Office of Civil Rights.
The materials can include “an impact letter written by the complainant,” the guide states.
In some cases where sexual-assault complaints were withdrawn before a Title IX hearing, the accused students were still given sanctions such as writing an “Accountability Reflection Paper” or an “Apology Letter.”
Cornell has not released figures for the academic year that began in fall 2024, when a woman identified only as Jane Doe says she was raped by seven students at the Chi Phi fraternity, or for subsequent years.
It is also unknown how many of the reported assaults led to criminal investigations, which could have proceeded alongside the university’s internal reviews.
Only two students Cornell officials found responsible for sexual assault between mid-2020 and mid-2024 were expelled from the New York campus (pictured), according to a damning report
The university’s relatively lenient penalties have drawn criticism from members of the Cornell community over the years.
Jennifer Brownell, executive director of the Advocacy Center of Tompkins County—a nonprofit that Cornell refers students to for sexual-violence counseling—described the punishments as “infuriating.”
“Should they be expelled? I don’t know. But should there be harsher punishments? Yes,” she said.
Former student Kacey Lee told CNN that she felt “betrayed” after Cornell found a student responsible for assaulting her but punished him in 2023 with disciplinary probation, a no-contact order and directed study that included a “reflection paper.” He was not expelled.
The university’s Title IX panel, made up of faculty and staff, concluded that the student’s actions “caused significant harm but were not taken with malicious intent.” It also found that education on affirmative consent and related topics would likely prevent him from committing similar misconduct in the future.
After reading the decision, Lee said the punishment felt as though her alleged assailant had “just got an extra homework assignment.”
“In a way, they were telling me it just wasn’t bad enough,” she said. “Why is my pain worth an essay?”
Lee now says she regrets reporting the incident to Cornell’s Title IX Office.
“To know that I went through it all for this illusion of accountability felt even worse,” she said.
Kacey Lee, a former Cornell University student, told CNN she was disappointed after the student found responsible for sexually assaulting her received a “reflection paper” and other sanctions in 2023
Cornell’s relatively lenient punishments for students found responsible for sexual assault have drawn criticism from members of the community
Protesters are pictured at a rally in support of a former Cornell University student known as Jane Doe on Tuesday
Others claimed the university’s Title IX Office ignored significant evidence that allowed attackers to evade responsibility – and sometimes attack again, with one former student saying a colleague assaulted her multiple times and once made her bleed before he allegedly struck again a year later.
Jane Doe, meanwhile, has claimed she was coerced into taking drugs and sexually assaulted by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity at an off-campus house on October 19, 2024.
The three-member disciplinary panel ultimately concluded that Jane Doe was not sexually assaulted by all of the men she had accused, according to records obtained by The New York Times.
Instead, the panel found that only Matthew Ingalls, who had invited Jane Doe to the fraternity house, and Jonathan Newell, who engaged in a threesome with Jane Doe and Ingalls, were responsible for sexual assault.
The two men were then expelled from the school.
DON’T MISS: Hilary Swank, 52, Expecting Third Child With Husband Philip Schneider
But five other men named in Doe’s civil lawsuit received lighter punishments, with Winston Lee and Gillio Lopes receiving suspension and disciplinary probation orders and a third former fraternity member, Diego Sarabia, barred from campus for three years. He had already graduated from the school by the time the disciplinary measures were handed down.
The other two men, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar, were ordered not to contact Jane Doe, to study sexual harassment, social media use and bystander intervention and to write ‘reflection papers.’
They were not part of the alleged attack but were accused of entering the room after Newell allegedly posted in a fraternity Snapchat group that there was ‘free p***y’ upstairs.
The Chi Phi fraternity was also shut down in the aftermath.
Umar Matthew Ingalls and Jonathan Newell were expelled from the school after Jane Doe accused seven fraternity members of gang raping her in October 2024
One of the men allegedly posted to the fraternity’s active-members Snapchat group saying that there was ‘free p***y’ upstairs, referring to Doe, according to the filing, which included an image of the purported chat
All of the accused men have denied any wrongdoing, and were never charged with any crimes after prosecutors ruled there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges.
But the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office has since reopened the case, and the school officials have hired Sally Yates, a former Obama-appointed justice official who was infamously fired by President Donald Trump, to investigate its response to gang rape allegations.
In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for the school said the university takes sexual misconduct allegations ‘extremely seriously.’
He said the university ‘investigates reports through established processes, providing support and resources to those who come forward.’
The statement also noted that the university expanded in-person sexual violence prevention education this year to all first-year students, and in a separate interview with The New York Times, University President Michael Kotlikoff claimed his creation of a presidential task force in February 2025 to address sexual assault on campus was a sign his administration took the issue seriously.
‘We don’t set up a presidential task force for minor issues,’ he said, adding that the school’s steps were meant to reassure parents worried about their children on campus.
‘I’ve had a number of conversations with parents. I think this is a difficult conversation, particularly with the public that’s gotten so much different information about what actually went on and aren’t aware of these processes, and the complexity of a Title IX process,’ Kotlikoff said.
‘We take the issue seriously, that we respond, that we heard the concerns, and we’re responding in specific ways that address those concerns.’
Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff claimed his creation of a presidential task force in February 2025 to address sexual assault on campus was a sign his administration took the issue seriously
Kotlikoff also told The New York Times that the heavy use of ketamine and alcohol by students discovered during the Title IX investigation is not unique to Cornell.
‘I think that this is a problem that relates to 20-year-olds, 21-year-olds leaving home for the first time, coming into an environment where there’s access to alcohol, where there is, unfortunately, in some cases, access to drugs,’ he said.
Cornell has since banned all fraternity parties for the rest of the year.
Meanwhile, the Cornell faculty senate has said it plans to vote on a no-confidence resolution against the school’s administrators, including Kotlikoff, later this month.
But in his interview with the Times, Kotlikoff said: ‘The fact that Jane Doe experienced what she experienced at Cornell is something that I am personally sorry for. And I think this entire campus is sorry that occurred.’
‘I’ve heard enough from the community that there is a loss of trust. People are angry. I understand that anger.’
He also announced on Tuesday a suspension of all parties and social events at Interfraternity Council houses through the end of the 2026-27 academic year, along with a new ‘zero tolerance’ policy that would immediately suspend chapters for violations.
‘These measures will provide time for a thorough review of fraternity life at Cornell to determine whether and how it can safely continue,’ Kotlikoff wrote in a letter to the campus community.
Additionally, Cornell administrators announced that the school will be adding experienced sexual assault investigators to its police force.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Cornell University for comment.