The District Attorney who initially oversaw the investigation into a former Cornell University student’s claims that she was gang raped by seven members of a fraternity in 2024 is admitting his office didn’t conduct an initial, independent investigation into the case. Instead, the DA simply relied on campus police.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said in a statement on Monday, September 28, that his office reopened the criminal investigation after no charges were originally filed against the seven alleged rapists and members of the Chi Phi fraternity.
Van Houten claimed the DA declined to press charges at the time because the victim’s statement to investigators in 2024 was different from the claims the office claims she later made in her civil complaint, filed on September 16.
He added that his office does not typically investigate cases alongside local police.
“While the District Attorney’s Office is often called upon to provide investigation support to police agencies, we do not conduct parallel independent investigations of cases alongside police investigations,” he said in the statement. “The police investigate crimes. The District Attorney’s Office prosecutes crimes.”
After noting that his office did not believe charges were appropriate at the time given the information authorities claim they had at the time, Van Houten said he recognizes “that the process of healing from trauma is personal and different for every human.”
“At the same time, 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,” he said. “Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence.”
In light of the new civil complaint, the DA’s office has reopened the investigation into the alleged victim’s original claims.
In the lawsuit, the victim – identified as the alias Jane Doe – claimed that the assault took place at the frat house when she was 20, according to WBNG.
She alleged that on the night of October 19, 2014, she went to the frat house after a night of drinking to visit a friend. She was then allegedly drugged and first sexually assaulted by at least two of the fraternity brothers.
Doe claimed that she was ultimately sexually assaulted by at least seven members of the fraternity and until the early morning hours of the next day. Around 1:42 a.m., one of the men allegedly sent a message to the fraternity’s Snapchat group chat saying that there was “free p****” upstairs, using a derogatory term for a woman’s vagina, according to the lawsuit.
Doe reported the sexual assault three weeks later, though her attorney claimed that only two of the seven fraternity brothers were expelled from Cornell. The lawsuit went on to claim that the other alleged assailants were given far less severe punishment, including submitting essays and attending so-called workshops.
Her lawyer also said that no arrests were made in connection with the alleged gang rape. Attorney Jeremy Saland, who represents one of the alleged attackers, has denied any wrongdoing on his client’s behalf.
After it was announced that the case was being reopened, Cornell University issued a statement saying that the academic institution supports “the decision of the Tompkins County District Attorney (DA) to provide an opportunity for the victim’s story in the 2024 Chi Phi fraternity sexual assault case to be heard by a criminal grand jury.”
Kyle Kimball, the Vice President for University Relations, said that the university previously “conducted a thorough Title IX investigation, which is separate from a criminal proceeding, over the course of several months.”
Kimball added that the “hearing panel issued a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell” following their investigation. “None of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement,” Kimball wrote.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
