The woman known as “Cornell 7” Jane Doe has removed from her lawsuit a man she mistakenly identified as the president of the university’s Chi Phi fraternity, whose members she alleges gang-raped her.
Doe sued seven Chi Phi members last month, accusing them of sexually assaulting her at a fraternity party in October 2024. Her original complaint also named Orazio Petito.
Petito was incorrectly identified as the chapter’s president and was not accused of sexually assaulting Doe.
A notice of discontinuance filed Tuesday confirms that Petito has been dismissed from the case.
The identity of the person who led Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter at the time has not been made clear.
“We’re pleased with the dismissal of the case against my client, and justice was served,” Petito’s attorney, Eric Bernstein, told Newsday.
The legal development came as Doe issued a new letter criticizing Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff over his reported response to her allegations.
According to the letter, obtained by The New York Times, Doe said Kotlikoff spoke with the president of her sorority after she reported the alleged assault in November 2024 and asked, “Why did she wait so long to report it?”
Doe described the reported comment as “an expression of doubt in the veracity of my story,” according to the letter dated Oct. 14.
The letter said Doe felt “unsupported and disbelieved by President Kotlikoff” after the then-president of Tri Delta relayed the conversation to her.
Doe wrote that the experience deepened her disillusionment with Cornell, which she once regarded as her “dream school.”
DON’T MISS: Nonbinary Billions Actor Says They’re Seeking Service Industry Work
Kotlikoff acknowledged shortcomings in the Ivy League university’s handling of the matter while facing criticism from faculty at a meeting last Wednesday.
Still, the embattled president defended his administration as Cornell’s Faculty Senate considered a no-confidence resolution.
Kotlikoff called the issues raised by the Cornell 7 case “not easy” and argued that removing him from office would damage the university’s reputation.
He also suggested that Cornell could impose broad limits on Greek life, saying the university must decide whether fraternities can operate safely on campus.
Doe alleges that Chi Phi members Matthew Ingalls, Scott Kretzschmar, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Jonathan Newell, Scott Norris, and Diego Sarabia sexually assaulted or exploited her at a fraternity party when she was a 20-year-old sophomore.
All seven men have denied wrongdoing, maintaining that the encounters were consensual or that they did not participate.
No criminal charges have been filed against any of the fraternity members. Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter was shut down after the incident, and two of the seven men were expelled.
A Cornell spokesperson told The Post that the university received legal correspondence from Doe’s attorney, while disputing her description of how officials initially handled the allegations.
“The Dean of Faculty received legal correspondence claiming to be from a law firm representing Jane Doe, which he subsequently turned over to the General Counsel to verify and to share with the Independent Review,” the spokesperson said.
“The second-hand account of the question asked by President Kotlikoff in a January 2025 meeting in the letter is incorrect, based on a documented first-hand account,” they added.
“The question ‘Why did it take so long for the assault to be reported?’ was directed at bystanders who did not use Cornell’s anonymous tip line, despite ongoing social media activity about the incident in October 2024. He was not questioning Jane Doe’s reporting,” the spokesperson said.
Doe’s attorney did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
