{"id":363932,"date":"2026-10-04T01:44:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T01:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/363932\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T01:44:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T01:44:26","slug":"cornell-president-vows-transparency-amid-outrage-over-fraternity-rape-case-education-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/363932\/","title":{"rendered":"Cornell president vows transparency amid outrage over fraternity rape case | Education News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Kotlikoff expresses deep sorrow over the case, calling it one of the most challenging periods for Cornell.<\/p>\n

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Published On 4 Oct 20264 Oct 2026<\/p>\n

Cornell University\u2019s president, Michael Kotlikoff, has called the alleged 2024 gang rape of a student at a fraternity house \u201cdeeply disturbing\u201d, pledging greater transparency amid mounting outrage over how the school handled the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart aches when I think of what she experienced,\u201d Kotlikoff said in an eight-minute video message to the Cornell community on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

He characterised the past week as one of the most difficult in the university\u2019s history and said it would weigh on the university for years to come. \u201cIt raises heartbreaking and troubling issues about sexual assault, dehumanisation and aspects of party culture, alcohol and drug use,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, alleges she was sexually assaulted<\/a> by multiple members of the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024 and has sued the university and seven former students.<\/p>\n

Scrutiny over Cornell\u2019s handling of the case intensified after New York Governor Kathy Hochul said newly released information had undermined her confidence in the local prosecutor, who initially declined to bring charges.<\/p>\n

Hochul subsequently appointed<\/a> state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor to take over the criminal investigation, saying she would \u201cnot allow anyone to sweep this case under the rug\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Governor Kathy Hochul, left, and New York Attorney General Letitia James attend a news conference in New York City on October 2, 2026, regarding an investigation into alleged sexual assault at Cornell University [Jeenah Moon\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

The case has also renewed scrutiny of the \u201cvoluntary intoxication loophole<\/a>\u201d in New York law that makes it difficult to prosecute sexual assaults involving victims who voluntarily consumed alcohol or drugs, even if they later became too intoxicated to consent.<\/p>\n

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten had cited the legal provision in defending his original decision not to pursue charges. Hochul has pledged to push for changes to it.<\/p>\n

At a student assembly hearing on Thursday, several speakers called for Kotlikoff\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n

In Saturday\u2019s video, Kotlikoff reaffirmed his support for an independent review of the university\u2019s handling of the case and said Cornell\u2019s Board of Trustees would announce details next week. He also called for a \u201cserious look at the role of fraternities and sororities in campus life\u201d.<\/p>\n

James\u2019s appointment has placed the case under a prosecutor whose office has repeatedly clashed with President Donald Trump. She has separately described the case as \u201can active criminal investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Kotlikoff expresses deep sorrow over the case, calling it one of the most challenging periods for Cornell.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[67,9959,745,9,24,55,54,12,56,3019,901,2272,54385],"class_list":["post-363932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-education","tag-human-rights","tag-investigation","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-sexual-assault","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-womens-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}