Ithaca police said Monday that an alleged October 2024 sexual assault at a Cornell University fraternity house was never reported to the department. Police said they learned of the allegations recently through news coverage, drawing a distinction between the city department and Cornell University Police, which the accuser's civil lawsuit says received her report.
The Ithaca Police Department said in a Sept. 28 release provided to FingerLakes1.com that it understood Cornell and the Tompkins County District Attorney's Office were taking the allegations seriously. The statement follows a civil lawsuit filed this month by a former student identified as Jane Doe against Cornell, fraternity and sorority organizations, a bar and seven former students.
The complaint says Doe reported the incident to Cornell University Police in November 2024. It also says the matter was under investigation by Ithaca police when the lawsuit was filed. Monday's city police statement says the department had received no report of the incident. Neither account establishes what information Cornell's police shared with the district attorney or city police.
The lawsuit alleges Doe was drugged and sexually assaulted by several members of the Chi Phi fraternity after a night out in Ithaca. The allegations are civil claims, not findings of guilt. No criminal charges were announced in the two releases provided Monday.
The district attorney's office is reassessing the case. District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told ABC News that his office intends to present it to a grand jury with Doe's cooperation and determine whether evidence now available changes its earlier assessment. A grand-jury presentation would not itself mean anyone has been charged or convicted.
Assemblymember Anna Kelles, whose district includes Cornell, said in a separate Sept. 28 statement that the allegations and the university's handling of the complaint deserve continued scrutiny. She called on Cornell to explain, to the extent privacy law allows, how it considered evidence, what disciplinary actions it took and why.
Kelles said two men were expelled while five others remained on campus without restrictions. Those disciplinary outcomes are her account; neither Monday release includes university records verifying them. She said the accuser should be able to learn the outcome of her own university proceeding.
Kelles cited New York's campus sexual-assault law, known as Enough is Enough, in calling for fair and timely proceedings and measures that protect a reporting student's ability to continue an education. Her statement criticized what she described as a campus culture that can discourage victims from reporting or lead them to minimize what happened.
She also described her own experience as a survivor and said it took her decades to understand it. Kelles cautioned that she did not know whether Doe's experience resembled hers and would not presume to tell Doe's story.
The Ithaca Police Department urged people who have experienced sexual abuse to contact officers. Emergencies should be reported to 911. Police listed 607-272-3245 for dispatch, 607-272-9973 for administration and 607-330-0000 for the tip line. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through the department's tip page.
The department's statement did not say whether it would open its own investigation. The district attorney's review and the civil lawsuit remain separate processes.
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