Cornell disputes former student’s account of president’s response to assault report
A former student told faculty leaders she felt disbelieved after hearing a second-hand account of President Michael Kotlikoff’s remarks. Cornell says his question concerned bystanders who had not reported the allegations.
Cornell University disputed on Tuesday, October 20, a former student’s account of President Michael Kotlikoff’s response to her report of an alleged sexual assault in Ithaca, New York. The student, known as Jane Doe, had told Cornell’s Faculty Senate she felt unsupported and disbelieved; her letter reached faculty leaders as they considered a no-confidence vote in the administration.
Doe’s description of Kotlikoff’s remarks is second-hand. She wrote that the then-president of her Tri Delta sorority chapter told her about a conversation with him and interpreted his question about the timing of the report as doubt about Doe’s account. Cornell says Kotlikoff was asking why bystanders had not used the university’s anonymous tip line. The competing accounts leave what he meant in that conversation disputed.
What Doe told Cornell’s Faculty Senate
In her letter, sent earlier in October, Doe said the sorority leader recalled Kotlikoff asking, in substance, why she had waited so long to report the alleged assault. According to CBS News, Doe wrote that the leader understood the question as expressing doubt in her story. NBC News reported that Doe also relayed the leader’s account of a faculty member at the meeting who appeared distressed and considered the president’s response inappropriate.
Doe reported the alleged assault to campus police on November 8, 2024, about three weeks after she said it happened at the Chi Phi fraternity house, CBS News reported. Her letter concerns the university president’s response to that report, rather than a finding about the alleged assault itself.
Cornell’s account and the wider review
Cornell called Doe’s description of Kotlikoff’s question incorrect, citing what it said was a documented first-hand account of the January 2025 meeting. The university said the question concerned bystanders who had not reported the allegations through its anonymous tip line, rather than Doe’s decision to report. Its account directly challenges the interpretation conveyed to Doe by the sorority leader.
NBC News reported that Cornell hired former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates earlier in October to lead an independent review of the university’s response and its broader sexual misconduct policies. The faculty’s possible no-confidence vote places Kotlikoff’s leadership under scrutiny as that review proceeds.
Doe filed a civil lawsuit last month against Cornell, Chi Phi and others over the university’s handling of her report and the underlying allegations, CBS News reported. Seven former fraternity members named in the case have denied wrongdoing, according to CBS News, which said none has been charged with a crime.
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Sources and context
- Cornell responds to Jane Doe's letter saying she felt disbelieved, unsupported by school presidentCBS News
- Jane Doe says Cornell president appeared to question her allegations in letter to faculty senateNBC News
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.