Cornell University in Ithaca, New York
The district attorney (DA) who has reopened his investigation into an alleged 2024 sexual assault at Cornell University has defended his earlier decision not to prosecute anyone, citing the former student’s own account of the incident to police. The woman filed a lawsuit this month alleging that she was assaulted by seven male students at the Chi Phi fraternity house on Cornell’s campus in October 2024. Because we had all of the information that the police collected from Jane Doe through her very detailed, very comprehensive statement that she provided,” he added, there was no additional need to find information.
Van Houten has not released the complainant’s sworn statement to police, but instead made public a summary that includes some of her direct quotes. The complainant reported the incident to Cornell’s campus police, but Van Houten’s office decided not to prosecute anyone at the time.
In several media interviews on Tuesday (local time), Tompkins County DA Matthew Van Houten argued that while the male students involved did things that were “morally wrong”, the woman’s initial account of the incident to police did not include allegations that she was drugged, incapacitated beyond the ability to consent, or forced to engage in sexual activity. “She went to the police because she knew it wasn’t right,” Van Houten told CNN. He also defended his office’s decision not to conduct further investigation after the woman, identified in court filings by the pseudonym “Jane Doe,” initially spoke to police. The alleged incident occurred after she was pressured into taking drugs and consuming alcohol, leaving her unable to consent to sexual activity, according to the lawsuit.
“There were no question marks. The office later reopened the criminal investigation amid growing public attention over the woman’s allegations.