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.Also Read | Drugged with ketamine, raped for hours: Ex-student sues Cornell University, 7 fraternity membersIn 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.“There were no question marks. There was no additional need to find information 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.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. 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 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. According to the lawsuit, the alleged incident occurred after she was pressured into taking drugs and consuming alcohol, leaving her unable to consent to sexual activity.The complainant reported the incident to Cornell’s campus police, but Van Houten’s office decided not to prosecute anyone at the time. The office later reopened the criminal investigation amid growing public attention over the woman’s allegations.
Cornell supports reopening investigation
Cornell University has expressed support for reopening the criminal investigation, saying in a statement that its own inquiry had resulted in disciplinary action against some students, including expulsions.According to the statement, the Chi Phi chapter remains barred from campus.The woman’s lawsuit accuses the university of failing to prevent the alleged assaults and of not adequately addressing sexual violence on campus. It includes a photograph that purportedly shows a group chat between fraternity members discussing the events of that night.Van Houten dismissed the photograph as a “red herring”, arguing that it had no bearing on the legal assessment of whether the woman had consented or whether there was evidence that she had been unable to consent under state law.“We received it, but it was not relevant to the assessment of whether Jane Doe consented or whether there was any evidence of lack of consent on her part as defined by the penal law,” he said.(With AP inputs)
