US prosecutors reopen investigation into alleged Cornell fraternity gang rape

US prosecutors have reopened an investigation into an alleged gang rape at Cornell University after public outcry and new allegations detailed in a civil lawsuit.

Reinvestigation follows lawsuit claims

Prosecutors reopened the case on Monday, the office of Tompkins County district attorney Matthew Van Houten said, after a civil suit this month included newly described allegations about an attack at the Cornell University Chi Phi fraternity.

The civil lawsuit alleges the woman was drugged with ketamine, assaulted and raped in 2024 by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity. The suit runs to 101 pages and includes a screenshot of a Snapchat group message advertising “free pussy” during the incident, the filing says.

Why prosecutors changed course

Van Houten said his office had chosen in 2024 not to prosecute because the victim’s testimony at that time “did not establish a lack of consent,” but that the office has now decided to file criminal charges against the seven men based on the woman’s latest allegations.

“I recognize the reality that it can take years of therapy and healing for victims of sexual assaults to fully process and understand what happened to them,” Van Houten said. “Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence.”

Cornell response and campus punishments

Cornell temporarily suspended the students involved and closed the Chi Phi fraternity; several of the students were later expelled, the university said.

Kyle Kimball, vice president of university relations at Cornell, said the school supports the decision to reinvestigate and rejected a claim in the civil suit that suspects were offered the chance to write essays to mitigate their conduct.

“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” Kimball said.

Public reaction

British actor Florence Pugh said she felt “uneasy and sick and anxious” after hearing about the case and criticised how colleges handle sexual assault.

“Colleges/schools/universities repeatedly fail women around the world,” Pugh wrote on Instagram. “You build men that get taught through time and time again that they can do extreme harm and that they won’t be harmed in return.”

Democratic lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned what she described as a “culture of rape” at elite institutions like Cornell and said the survivor had “lost her education.”

“Jane Doe, that survivor, lost her education because you can’t stay in school when something like that happens to you,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “She had to lose her education, and those men were protected by an institution and granted an Ivy League degree as a reward. Never again.”

Legal claims and damages sought

The civil suit seeks financial damages from Cornell and the seven named suspects and says the woman has suffered “severe emotional and psychological distress.” The suit is filed in New York and the alleged victim’s identity is being protected.

The district attorney’s office said it now plans to file criminal charges against the seven men; Van Houten framed the decision as a response to additional evidence and the survivor’s recent allegations.