Cornell faces questions over alleged sexual assault case
Fox News correspondent Nate Foy reports on the latest developments in the sexual assault allegations involving Cornell University, including the ongoing investigation and demands that New York Attorney General Letitia James transfer the case, on “Special Report.”
Cornell University has hired former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to review how the school has responded to allegations of sexual assault.
Cornell announced Tuesday that the examination will broadly assess the university’s policies for preventing and responding to sexual assault.
Yates will also undertake a “detailed review of the University’s response to the allegations involving Jane Doe and members of the Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024, including whether Cornell followed its policies and procedures in responding to the matter.”
Sally Yates speaks at the Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center on April 13, 2018, in New York City. (Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)
Cornell said the review will assess its policies, practices and resources covering the full range of prevention and response. That includes how reports are received and investigated, student support, hearings, disciplinary decisions and appeals, as well as the role and response of campus police. Yates’ team will also examine coordination with outside law enforcement and prosecutors, campus safety reporting, policies governing fraternities, sororities and other student organizations, and the Board’s oversight of these matters.
Anne Meinig Smalling, chair of the Cornell University Special Committee of the Board of Trustees, said Yates would carry out a “rigorous examination” as student protests over the allegations spread across campus this week.
The Chi Phi fraternity house on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, N.Y., on Oct. 2, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
“Sally Yates brings extraordinary experience, independence and judgment to this work… The questions raised by the Jane Doe matter warrant a rigorous examination of Cornell’s response to that case, but our responsibility is broader,” Smalling said. She added that Yates and her team had been asked to evaluate Cornell’s overall approach to preventing and responding to sexual misconduct, identify strengths and weaknesses, and recommend changes aimed at making the university community safer.
A lawsuit accuses seven former Chi Phi fraternity members of drugging and raping a female Cornell student during a night of drinking, drug use and group sex at the fraternity house in October 2024.
The accuser, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, alleges that the men sexually assaulted her after she arrived intoxicated and was pressured to take ketamine and other substances. The men have denied wrongdoing. Some say the sexual activity was consensual, while others deny taking part. No criminal charges have been filed against the seven men.
Students protest on Ho Plaza at Cornell University, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Ithaca, N.Y., in response to an alleged sexual assault in 2024 involving some members of the Chi Phi fraternity. (Richard Beetham for Fox News Digital)
Andrew Miltenberg, an attorney representing one of the seven fraternity members named in Jane Doe’s civil lawsuit, said his firm welcomed Cornell’s decision to commission an independent review of the case and its sexual misconduct policies. He added that his experience with Cornell Title IX investigations has generally been positive.
“That said, we have also seen due process problems that have affected respondents, and on at least two occasions we have gone to federal court to try to address those issues,” Miltenberg said. “In this case, we do not agree with the outcome as to Mr. Lopes.”
Miltenberg called an independent examination “appropriate,” pointing to Yates’ “tremendous experience as a prosecutor and investigator.” He said Yates and her team should review the complete record and “follow the facts wherever they lead.”
“There has been a tremendous amount of public discussion and pressure surrounding this case,” he said. “That makes it even more important that the review focus on the evidence and take an honest look at what happened, how Cornell handled it, and whether its policies and procedures were followed… At the end of the day, the facts should speak for themselves.”
The matter has escalated into a political and legal firestorm. New York Attorney General Letitia James said Friday that her office was conducting an “active criminal investigation” after Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed the Office of the Attorney General as special prosecutor. Cornell has separately agreed to retain outside counsel for an independent review of its handling of the allegations.
The controversy centers on sharply conflicting accounts of the night in question, including discrepancies between Doe’s statements in the weeks that followed, the information prosecutors say they received from Cornell police and the explosive allegations outlined in a lawsuit filed nearly two years later.