New York State Police to Investigate Sexual Offence Complaints at Cornell University

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that state police will now investigate all future sexual offence complaints at Cornell University. The decision follows intense backlash over how the university handled a gang rape allegation involving a fraternity on campus.

The controversy centres on the handling of an alleged campus rape in 2024. A student, known anonymously as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit against Cornell after she was allegedly drugged and gang raped at a fraternity.

The university initially defended its disciplinary measures, but later acknowledged that it had fallen short in its handling of her case.

The fallout continues to rile the university. Cornell's administration, including its president, is now facing a no-confidence vote by its faculty.

Hochul said the New York State Police have signed an agreement with Cornell University, so that all sexual offence complaints — which historically fell under the jurisdiction of the university police — will now be immediately referred to state police instead.

Speaking on Thursday, Hochul said that when someone reports sexual assault, they deserve to know their allegations will be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated by law enforcement trained to support survivors. Survivors should be able to trust the institutions responsible for protecting them, the governor added.

Backlash against the Ivy League university has been intense since Jane Doe filed her lawsuit in mid-September.

On Wednesday, the university's Faculty Senate, a governing body composed of professors and other academic staff, met behind closed doors and decided to move forward with voting on a resolution of no-confidence against the administration and the university's President Michael Kotlikoff. The vote will open for faculty on Friday and run until 6 November. It is largely symbolic, but it could intensify pressure for a change in the university's leadership.

Earlier this month, the university announced a series of measures in response to the alleged assault, including adding sexual assault investigators to its own police force.

Hochul had said she was 'deeply disturbed' by how the investigation was handled. Earlier this month she appointed a special prosecutor, New York Attorney General Letitia James, to oversee a reopened investigation into whether criminal charges are warranted.

The woman at the centre of the case alleges in her civil lawsuit that she was drugged and raped by seven men at a fraternity house at the university in 2024. She claims Cornell failed to protect her or adequately punish the men, who have now become known as the 'Cornell Seven'.