FACT FOCUS: What people are alleging in a Cornell University fraternity gang rape case

Allegations that a group of men gang raped a Cornell University student at a fraternity house in 2024 have drawn online speculation about what the school and authorities did and criticism that no charges were filed Allegations that a Cornell University student was gang raped by a group of men at a fraternity house in 2024 have led to widespread, online speculation about what school officials, police and prosecutors did and didn’t do, as well as biting criticism that no criminal charges were brought. The woman brought the allegations back into the spotlight in a lawsuit filed last month against seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity, the university and others.

That led the Tompkins County district attorney, Matthew Van Houten, to reopen the criminal investigation. He initially had declined to prosecute, saying he had no evidence that the woman was raped or drugged against her will. Several of the men have denied that they engaged in any nonconsensual sex or denied they touched the woman at all.

Kathy Hochul announced she was appointing the state attorney general as a special prosecutor to take over the probe. ___ CLAIM: The woman never told police she was raped; that allegation appeared only in the new lawsuit THE FACTS: Misleading. While the woman told police that she consented to an initial sexual encounter with two of the men, she said she was not comfortable with what happened later, when she alleged other men began entering the room.

It was coercion, yes,” she told a campus police officer, according to a transcript obtained by CBS News. The woman also told campus police she was “completely and totally incapacitated” before some of the sexual abuse. The woman acknowledged she had been drinking alcohol and used drugs the night she visited the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024, and that she had gaps in her memory.

She said at least one the men hit her during the attack, which lasted several hours. “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped,” according to the transcript. ___ CLAIM: Cornell didn’t follow up on the woman’s allegations.

When the woman made her report in 2024, the school immediately suspended Chi Phi, which remains barred from campus, suspended some of the students alleged to be involved and conducted its own investigation. The inquiry included 50 interviews with 32 witnesses and 12 days of hearings. Both the woman and several of the men she had accused were interviewed.