A content warning before you keep reading: this story involves sexual violence.
In 2024, seven men from a fraternity at Cornell University in upstate New York allegedly gang-raped a 20-year-old woman.
No criminal charges were ever laid, but the university expelled and suspended members of the group, and some were made to write essays.
This week, local authorities reopened the criminal investigation after the alleged victim filed a civil lawsuit against the group of men and Cornell itself, among others.
Here’s a timeline of events based on what we know so far.
Editorial Note
Throughout this piece, we use the word “alleged” to describe several people and events.
That is because no criminal charges have been laid yet and nobody has been convicted of the alleged crimes.
Cornell
Cornell is a university in the town of Ithaca, New York.
It’s one of the eight prestigious U.S. colleges in the ‘Ivy League’.
A 2025 university task force survey found 35% of undergraduate women and 8% of undergraduate men reported experiencing sexual assault during their time there.
The report came after a student made a complaint to campus police in 2024 that seven other students had sexually assaulted her.
The following timeline of events is largely constructed from that student’s later civil lawsuit against the university.
The legal documents refer to her as “Jane Doe”.
October 2024
On 19 October, Jane Doe, then 20, went out with her sorority to bars in Ithaca.
(Sororities and fraternities are membership groups with housing on U.S. campuses.)
Later that night, after drinking, she went to the Chi Phi fraternity house to visit her friend Matthew Ingalls, who is one of the seven men she later sued.
Doe alleges Ingalls and his fraternity brother Jonathan Newell pressured her into taking what they said was ketamine.
Once Doe was incapacitated, the lawsuit alleges Ingalls and Newell then “began engaging in sexual acts with the Plaintiff, all without her consent”.
A message was then sent to the fraternity’s Snapchat group chat encouraging others to join.
Doe alleges she was assaulted by multiple men for hours, until around 5:45am.
November 2024
On 8 November, Doe reported the alleged assault to Cornell’s campus police, giving them an official statement of events.
That month, local District Attorney Matthew Van Houten decided the evidence didn’t support criminal charges.
He later clarified why:
Your contribution ensures The Daily Aus can continue doing the work you love.
I want to give $10 monthly to help TDA keep doing the news.
Your details:
Doe’s legal team told CBS News investigators never followed up with her after she gave her initial testimony to campus police.
Early 2025
Cornell allegedly responded to the testimony by suspending seven students and asking them to write essays.
It then ran its own investigation, which involved at least 12 hearings.
The Chi Phi frat house was shut down in 2024, and the fraternity is still barred from campus.
Cornell has said none of the men “were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement,” but didn’t clarify what specific actions were taken.
September 2026
In mid-September, Jane Doe filed a 101-page civil lawsuit in New York.
She is suing the seven men she alleged raped her, Cornell, the Chi Phi fraternity, her sorority, and an Ithaca nightclub.
Doe accuses Cornell of failing to protect her, despite what she says were known risks around drugs and sexual misconduct in fraternities.
The case came to global attention in part due to the allegation that Cornell let some of the accused men write essays to reduce their punishment.
Actor Florence Pugh posted on Instagram saying: “I’m enraged by schools protecting boys, in fear of their futures being wrecked.”
Instagram restricted her post, but it has since been restored.
On Monday, Van Houten announced he was reopening the criminal case following the civil lawsuit and intensified public interest.
He’s asked a senior prosecutor to prepare it for a grand jury, where a group of citizens determines if a case should go to trial.
They hear evidence in a closed court (no media allowed) before making a decision.
If the grand jury chooses to press charges against the men, a criminal case will run alongside the civil lawsuit.
Responses
Cornell says it supports the case being reopened.
“Any suggestion that the University did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” it said.
Some of the men have responded publicly, denying they sexually assaulted Doe.
The grand jury will decide whether anyone should be charged, but there’s no timeline yet on when that will happen.
The civil lawsuit will continue separately.
1800 RESPECT
Call: 1800 737 732
Text: 0458 737 732
Video: 1800RESPECT.org.au
