The alleged incident was reported to campus police on Sept. 23 and remains pending
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NEED TO KNOW
- A rape was reported to Cornell University police days after a former student sued the university and seven fraternity members who she alleges raped her on campus in 2024
- A Cornell spokesperson told PEOPLE that “police interviewed the individual whom the report was made about, they stated that this was an instance of consensual sex”
- The case status is listed as “pending,” according to the university’s daily crime log
A rape was reported to Cornell University police days after a former student filed a lawsuit against the university and seven fraternity members who she alleges raped her on campus in 2024.
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, a Cornell spokesperson told PEOPLE that “a third party reported an alleged rape to the Cornell University Police Department.”
The report was made on Sept. 23 and the alleged incident occurred on Sept. 19 at Ginsburg Hall, a freshman dorm, according to the university’s daily crime log.
“Police interviewed the individual whom the report was made about, they stated that this was an instance of consensual sex,” the Cornell spokesperson said. The spokesperson did not provide further details.
According to the daily crime log, the status of the case is listed as “pending.”
The report comes amid scrutiny of Cornell University’s handling of allegations that a former student, then 20, was drugged and sexually assaulted for hours by seven men at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024.
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, made the claims in a lawsuit filed Sept. 16 in New York Supreme Court and obtained by PEOPLE. She says she reported the alleged incident to the university’s police department weeks later, but no criminal charges were ever brought. She eventually left the university.
Since the lawsuit was filed, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced that his office had reopened the criminal investigation and that he plans to present the case to a grand jury.
“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 in a statement. “Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence.”
The district attorney has claimed the former student’s statement to investigators in 2024 differed from what she alleged in the civil complaint. Her attorney, Thomas P. Giuffrè, told CNN her statements were the same.
The complaint also includes alleged messages sent in a fraternity Snapchat group chat, including one that said there was “free p—-” upstairs.
Further messages allegedly sent by fraternity members and obtained by CBS New York included the exchange: “Shop still open?,” one allegedly wrote, in an apparent reference to Doe. “Yea,” another replied.
Cornell University said in a statement that it supports Van Houten’s decision to reopen the investigation.
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The university said it conducted a months-long Title IX investigation at the time, which is separate from a criminal proceeding. The investigation resulted in a range of sanctions for the accused students, including temporary suspensions and expulsions.
“None of the individuals [accused] were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement,” the university said, seemingly responding to Giuffra’s claim to CBS News that two were expelled and the others received lesser punishments such as submitting essays.
According to the university, the on-campus Chi Phi chapter was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus.
Attorneys for three of the men accused have denied the allegations, PEOPLE previously reported.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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