Transcript in Cornell assault case conflicts with prosecutor’s account

A woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by seven men at a Cornell University fraternity house told campus police in November 2024 that she could “say with 100% confidence I was raped,” according to a transcript reported by CBS News New York and described by her attorney to NPR.

The woman, identified as Jane Doe in a lawsuit filed Sept. 16, alleges that the men assaulted her at the Chi Phi fraternity house beginning Oct. 19, 2024, after she was pressured to use ketamine and marijuana and drink alcohol. According to the reported transcript, she told an officer that she was “completely and totally incapacitated” before some of the alleged abuse and was hit during the encounter. She said she initially consented to sexual activity with two men but not to what happened later as others entered the room.

No criminal charges were filed. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten previously said the statement his office received described the woman’s drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious and consensual and did not allege that she had been drugged against her will or gang raped.

Van Houten told CBS News and NPR affiliate WSKG that he had not seen the full interview transcript when his office declined to prosecute, relying instead on a written statement prepared by a campus police officer and signed by the woman. He has reopened the investigation following the lawsuit and said his office was seeking the transcript from Cornell.

Cornell said it would retain outside counsel to independently review the university’s handling of the case.