NewzA woman who accused seven Cornell University students of raping her at a fraternity house says the university’s president questioned why she waited to report the alleged assault, leaving her feeling “unsupported and disbelieved.”Her secondhand account of the president's remark, which Cornell disputes, comes as faculty prepare for a potential vote of no confidence in the Ivy League school’s leadership. She sent a letter to faculty leaders last week, which The Associated Press obtained Tuesday.The sexual assault allegations by the former student, called Jane Doe in court documents, have sparked campus protests, renewed scrutiny of the university’s disciplinary system and a state investigation into the alleged October 2024 assault.In the letter, Jane Doe said her sorority president told her that Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff questioned why she waited until the following month to report being assaulted. The sorority leader, who spoke with Kotlikoff in November 2024, interpreted his remark as casting doubt on her story.“President Kotlikoff’s initial response was along the lines of, ‘Why did she wait so long to report it?’” Jane Doe wrote in the letter.
She said the conversation made her less confident that the administration could handle what happened with the sensitivity and fairness she expected.Cornell’s dean of faculty, however, offered a different account of the conversation. In an email Tuesday to faculty senators and verified by the AP, professor Chris Schaffer said another official who was present at the conversation recalled Kotlikoff asking why bystanders had not reported the alleged assault sooner through the school’s anonymous tip line, especially since the allegations were already circulating on social media.Schaffer said he waited to share Jane Doe’s letter with faculty senators until he could get another account of the conversation. He said he forwarded the letter to university lawyers, who passed it on to an independent team investigating Cornell’s response.Schaffer said at a meeting last week that he was against the proposed no-confidence resolution, saying it identified no specific failures or fixes, but acknowledged faculty frustration.
“The anger in our community is justified and I share it.”Kotlikoff did not respond Tuesday to an email inquiry about Jane Doe’s letter. A statement from a university spokesperson also disputed her account… The woman who accused seven Cornell University students of raping her at a fraternity house has weighed in on a looming faculty vote of no confidence in the school’s leadership, saying the university’s president questioned why she waited to report being assaulted — an alleged remark she said left her feeling “unsupported and disbelieved.”The case of Jane Doe, as she is identified in court documents, has prompted student protests, renewed scrutiny of the university’s disciplinary system and a state investigation into the alleged assault in October 2024.In a letter last week to faculty leaders and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, Jane Doe gave a secondhand account of a conversation from November 2024, shortly after she reported the alleged assault.
The president of her sorority told her that Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff had questioned Jane Doe's delay in reporting the alleged assault, which the sorority leader interpreted as casting doubt on her story.“President Kotlikoff’s initial response was along the lines of, ‘Why did she wait so long to report it?’” Jane Doe wrote in the letter. In an email sent Tuesday to faculty senators and verified by the AP, professor Chris Schaffer said another official who was present at the conversation recalled that Kotlikoff asked why bystanders, not Jane Doe herself, didn’t report the alleged assault sooner through the school’s anonymous tip line, especially since the allegations were already circulating on social media.Schaffer said he delayed sharing Jane Doe’s letter with faculty senators until he could get another account of the conversation. A statement from a university spokesperson also disputed her account of the conversation, saying Kotlikoff was asking about b…
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