Cornell case highlights 'draining' maze for victims to report campus sex assaults

1 October 2026, 00: 53 BST. Updated 5 minutes ago.

Key points

• Both Cornell and Van Houten have defended their handling of the 2024 case.
• University investigations are done behind closed doors, remarked Helene Weiss, a lawyer who has represented a number of victims of sexual assault on college campuses.
• Michael Diamondstein, a Pennsylvania attorney who has represented those accused of sexual misconduct on college campuses, remarked the secrecy helps protect both the victim and the accused.
• When Mary was a first-year college student, she woke up after a fraternity party with bruises and bite marks all over her body.
• Mary did not attend Cornell, and her case is not connected with the university.

1 October 2026, 00: 53 BST. Updated 5 minutes ago. Warning: This story contains distressing details and discussion of sexual assault.

When Mary was a first-year college student, she woke up after a fraternity party with bruises and bite marks all over her body. She notes it took her a few days to piece together that she had been sexually assaulted while "blacked out", and to find the strength – and the right avenue – to report the assault.

For context, the man she accused was eventually expelled, but police declined to bring charges since they stated there was a lack of physical evidence.

Mary – whose name has been changed to protect her identity – notes the process of finding some measure of justice was oftentimes confusing and disappointing.

"Even though it was a positive outcome, it was still so emotionally exhausting and draining, because I had to do all of this in tandem with getting used to being a college student for the first time, " remarked Mary. "In many ways, I had to be my own advocate, gathering all my evidence."

Notably, the experience with local police, she continued, "left me with a deep sense of disappointment in the system".

After a former student at Cornell University filed a civil lawsuit alleging she was raped by a number of members of a fraternity two years ago, with prosecutors declining at the time to pursue a case, how both universities and the criminal justice system respond to these types of assaults on college campuses is once again under the spotlight. What we know regarding Cornell rape investigation.

Mary did not attend Cornell, and her case is not connected with the university. But advocates for survivors of sexual assault say her case, and the Cornell allegations, are emblematic of the larger challenges in responding to sexual assault claims on college campuses specifically.

Meanwhile, the confusing web of systems and policies – which varies greatly by college – is one of a number of reasons why the vast majority of sexual assaults on college campuses, research suggests, go unreported.

"These processes are hard to navigate if you aren't in trauma, " remarked Nancy Chi Cantalupo, an associate professor of law at Wayne State University who has represented victims on college campuses. "If you are in trauma, they're virtually impossible to navigate."

Earlier this month, the former Cornell student known only as Jane Doe filed a lawsuit against the Ivy League university, alleging she was drugged and raped by a number of men at a fraternity house at the university in 2024.

She additionally alleged that Cornell failed to protect her or adequately punish the men involved. Jane Doe remarked she had noted the alleged assault to campus police. This person interviewed her, and provided information to the district attorney's office. The prosecutor declined to bring charges at the time, but this week, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten re-opened the case.

Both Cornell and Van Houten have defended their handling of the 2024 case. In an official note, external, the university remarked it had "conducted an extensive investigation and adjudication over several months and imposed different sanctions based on the findings and circumstances involving each student" along with creating a new framework for addressing sexual assault on campus.

Cornell has remarked it followed the procedures outlined in a federal civil rights law called Title IX. The law mandates that universities follow certain rules regarding investigating sexual assaults. Cornell remarked its investigation resulted in the fraternity involved being barred from campus, and that students involved were suspended or expelled. Two complex reporting systems.

After a student reports an assault on campus, the university's Title IX office determines whether the alleged behaviour could constitute a violation of policy, typically.

Eventually, both parties attend a hearing with a panel of faculty members or other mediators to present evidence and testimony in the case before a decision by the school is reached.

One of the biggest challenges sexual assault survivors face is simultaneously navigating the university and the criminal justice system. It "serve different purposes, operate under different rules and timelines, and lead to different outcomes", remarked Zoey Scheinblum-Brewer, a policy coordinator at the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, a nonprofit anti-sexual assault organisation.

"Unclear guidance about the options available through these parallel processes can create so much confusion and uncertainty that some students ultimately decide not to report, " she remarked.

Mary remarked this process at her college was not clear to her when she produced the decision to report the assault.

"For me, it would've been nice to know what I was getting into before it all happened. It felt like they were learning the process alongside me, " she remarked of university office-holders.

While some colleges, like Cornell, have information sharing agreements with local police, Mary was informed she had to go to police separately to file a report – a process she identified physically exhausting.

Mary's lawyer notes there was surveillance footage from the night showing her alleged rapist carrying her "slumped" over, and she had pictures of her bruises and bite marks. But police informed Mary they did not have probable cause for an arrest, and that the district attorney wanted to leave it to university administration.

"I was left with this taste that because they knew that the college was 'handling' my investigation, that they could wipe their hands clean of it, " she remarked.

In practice, the local police department informed the BBC it did not have the details of this particular case. The local district attorney's office did not respond to a request for comment.

University investigations are done behind closed doors, remarked Helene Weiss, a lawyer who has represented a number of victims of sexual assault on college campuses. She believes that part of the reason for the secrecy is to protect institutions' reputations.

"The secrecy of the process, it prevents other students from knowing regarding it. It prevents witnesses from coming forward, " she remarked.

"I think when you compare it to what they would face in a courtroom, it's much easier for students and much safer for students. Their name isn't put out there. The news media doesn't obtain them, " he stated.

Cornell students have criticised the university's handling of the woman's claims. The Cornell Daily Sun, a student newspaper, published the names of the accused under the headline: "Cornell won't, we will."

In an official note, the college remarked that federal privacy law "prohibits Cornell from disclosing specific information regarding individual students" so it cannot "make a public statement on any other disciplinary response".

Plenty of advocates say there is merit to universities investigating sexual assault complaints separately from the criminal justice system. Prosecuting sexual assault cases is notoriously tough – a recent systematic review identified that less than 10% of sexual assault cases yielded convictions. In a criminal trial, a prosecutor must convince a jury "beyond reasonable doubt" that the accused is guilty. But in a campus tribunal, the burden of proof is lower.

Under Title IX, the university is additionally required to offer solutions that local law enforcement cannot, like ensuring a student is not in the same class as their alleged abuser while the investigation is ongoing and offering homework extensions, stated Scheinblum-Brewer.

This is one of a number of reasons why victims and advocates for survivors say there are benefits to having two separate avenues, through the university and the criminal justice system.

After her case was dropped by the police, pursuing her assault claim through Title IX became the only way for her alleged rapist to face repercussions: an expulsion from college, for Mary.

"This was my only avenue to achieve any sort of justice, " she remarked.

Taken together, the developments around cornell case highlights ' draining' maze for victims to report campus sex assaults point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.