A Cornell University alumna told investigators she was “100 percent” certain she had been raped by seven fraternity members in the weeks after the alleged attack.
The woman, identified in court documents only as Jane Doe, spoke with campus police on November 14, more than three weeks after the alleged attack at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024.
According to a transcript obtained by CBS New York, she told a campus police investigator that she had been drinking and using drugs on the night in question and could not remember parts of what happened.
Even so, she said she could separate the initial sexual activity from events that allegedly occurred later that night.
Asked whether she had consented to the initial encounter, Jane Doe responded: “Yeah, as much as I can be, because again, I was super drunk when I got there… But I was pretty OK with all of this.”
“And then, of course, I was being hit at the same time,” she added.
She said she could not remember the end of the night, “where I was raped,” and did not know exactly how many men had sex with her.
However, when asked to describe what she believed had happened, Jane Doe said: “I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped.”
A Cornell University alumna told campus police she was “100 percent” certain she had been raped by seven fraternity members in the weeks following the alleged attack
The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, spoke with campus police on November 14. Students are pictured walking past Cornell Police headquarters on Wednesday
The transcript indicates that the campus police investigator questioned Jane Doe throughout the interview as she prepared a written account of the alleged incident.
When he began asking what she had said after the men requested sex, the investigator cautioned that his questions might sound accusatory. He said he needed precise answers to determine which charges could be pursued.
Jane Doe told him that she swatted away one man’s hand and said she was uncomfortable. She also said she told another man “no” several times or said she was too tired to have intercourse.
“Was it ‘no’ or was it ‘eh, I’m tired?’” the investigator asked.
“I think it’s ‘I’m tired,’” Jane Doe replied.
Later, the investigator asked whether she had grown tired of answering the men’s questions and eventually gave in.
“Yes. It was coercion, yes,” she said, according to the transcript. She added that she had been “completely and totally incapacitated.”
CBS News reported that the investigator recorded her account, read it back to her and asked her to clarify or correct any details.
On the second day of the interview, Jane Doe reviewed the revised six-page statement.
As she prepared to sign it, the transcript shows, she said: “I’m very confident about this.”
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten previously said his decision not to bring charges against the seven alleged perpetrators was based on the contents of Jane Doe’s signed 2024 statement
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has said his decision not to bring charges against the seven alleged perpetrators was based on the contents of the signed 2024 statement.
‘She never says that she was drugged without her knowledge,’ he previously told ABC News. ‘She admits to taking drugs and alcohol voluntarily and with knowledge.’
‘She does not allege that she was forced to engage in any acts. She does not say that she was physically helpless or unconscious or incapacitated at any point during the time at the fraternity house.’
But he told CBS News on Tuesday he had never before seen the transcript showing what Jane Doe told campus police.
‘I’m going to follow up on this because this is news to me,’ he said.
When he was then told that Jane Doe said she was confident she was raped, Van Houten replied: ‘That wasn’t information that I had, first of all. Second of all, that is a legal conclusion.
‘If she had said those words, we certainly would want to have explored that more,’ he noted. ‘Like I said, that wasn’t provided to me.’
The District Attorney said he will now seek a copy of the transcript and follow up with Cornell police.
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‘Nobody knows this information about the transcript and that gives me something to really dig into because that changes the landscape for me.’
Cornell officials have since said its police department provided the results of the school’s investigation to the District Attorney’s Office as prosecutors reconsider whether to bring charges against the alleged rapists.
Doe alleged the attack took place at at the Chi Phi house, above, late on October 19, 2024. The fraternity has remained suspended from Cornell’s campus
The District Attorney’s decision to reopen the case came after Jane Doe filed a civil suit on September 16.
It alleges that Doe, then 20, arrived at the fraternity house on October 19, 2024, already heavily intoxicated following a night of drinking in Ithaca.
She alleges she was pressured to take ketamine and given marijuana and high-proof alcohol before being repeatedly sexually assaulted as additional fraternity members entered the room.
The complaint alleges seven men eventually participated and that Doe became ‘completely incapacitated.’ She says the ordeal continued until around 5.45am, when she lost consciousness.
It also claims that during the assault, one fraternity member posted to a ‘Chi Phi Actives’ Snapchat group that there was ‘free p***y’ upstairs, referring to Doe.
‘Like you can walk in and whip it out,’ another member allegedly responded, according to a screenshot described in the filing.
One of the men allegedly posted to the fraternity’s active-members Snapchat group saying that there was ‘free p***y’ upstairs, referring to Doe, according to the filing, which included an image of the purported chat
Doe reported the allegations to Cornell University Police on November 8 after friends encouraged her to come forward, according to the lawsuit.
Cornell temporarily suspended the fraternity and seven students that day.
The university has since agreed to undertake an independent investigation into its handling of the matter, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday.
She said in a post on social media that University President Michael Kotlikoff agreed to hire outside counsel to conduct the probe.
‘I want answers,’ the governor said. ‘I want to know what happened.’
University officials have previously said federal privacy laws prevent Cornell from revealing individual disciplinary outcomes.
But it noted that the Xi chapter of Chi Phi remains barred from campus.
Doe ultimately left Cornell and says she continues to struggle with anxiety, depression and sleepless nights nearly two years after the alleged attack
The defendants have not all publicly responded to the allegations, but at least two have denied wrongdoing.
Jeremy Saland, an attorney for defendant Scott Kretzschmar, said the alleged incident ‘did not happen.’
‘At bottom, Scott never sexually assaulted or even touched the plaintiff in any way. Period,’ Saland said.
‘We look forward to confronting the plaintiff in a court of law for her selfishly false claims with both the evidence and her own words.’
Defendant Scott Norris separately denied participating in sexual activity or drug use, while acknowledging sending one message cited in the complaint.
‘I did not participate in any sexual activity or drug use,’ Norris said. ‘I thoughtlessly engaged in Snapchat and briefly stopped in the room where misconduct happened but not when it happened.’
For Doe, her attorney says the consequences have stretched far beyond the night at the center of the lawsuit.
He has claimed his client continues to suffer from anxiety, depression and sleepless nights and stopped attending Cornell following the alleged attack.
‘She is basically stalled, and her life is devoted to dealing with the trauma,’ Giuffra previously told Our News Outlet. ‘It’s like a constant, constant reminder.’
‘You could give her all the money in the world; nobody wants to have this as their story. Nobody wants to have this in their lives.’
