The next major decision in the case widely called the “Cornell 7” belongs to a Tompkins County grand jury. District Attorney Matthew Van Houten says his office has reopened its review of sexual assault allegations involving seven former Cornell University students and is preparing to present evidence to the panel, but he has announced no date or criminal charges.
The civil lawsuit filed Sept. 14 will proceed separately. In it, a former student identified as Jane Doe alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024. The allegations have not been proven in court.
What will the grand jury consider?
In a statement released Monday, Van Houten said he had begun speaking with Doe and her attorneys and assigned a senior prosecutor to prepare the case. He said the grand jury could hear Doe’s testimony and consider new evidence raised in her lawsuit.
The immediate question is how prosecutors assess two accounts of the same night. Van Houten said his office declined to file charges in November 2024 after reviewing a six-page statement Doe gave Cornell University Police that, in his account, described her drug use and sexual activity as voluntary. Her later lawsuit alleges she was incapacitated and assaulted.
Doe’s original statement has not been released, so the public cannot independently compare it with the lawsuit. Her attorney, Thomas Giuffra, has disputed the prosecutor’s characterization, saying the police account was not materially different from the civil complaint, Reuters reported.
The complaint also includes an image it says shows messages from a fraternity group chat. Whether prosecutors obtained those messages in 2024, what other evidence they now have and what Doe tells the grand jury could shape the renewed review.
A grand jury presentation does not guarantee an indictment. If the panel votes to bring charges against any of the men, a criminal case would follow; if it does not, the civil lawsuit can still continue.
What happens to the lawsuit?
Doe is suing the seven men, Cornell, Chi Phi and Tri Delta organizations, and an Ithaca bar. The 101-page complaint seeks unspecified damages and a jury trial over the alleged assault and what it describes as failures by the institutional defendants to protect her.
The defendants will have an opportunity to contest those claims in court. No civil trial date has been announced.
At least one of the men disputes the allegations. An attorney representing one defendant told Reuters that his client’s involvement was limited to an immature response in the group chat and that he welcomes further investigation by the district attorney.
What changes at Cornell and in Ithaca?
Cornell says its own Title IX investigation concluded after a hearing at which Doe and the accused students could present evidence. In a [Monday statement](https://stat
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