The Cornell rape allegations and lawsuit, explained

A New York prosecutor announced Monday that he was reopening an investigation of the alleged 2024 gang-rape of a student at a Cornell University fraternity house after a weekend of outcry from public figures.

Lawyers for the student, known as Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit earlier this month against the university and the alleged perpetrators, known online as the “Cornell seven.” Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told ABC News that he also intends to present the case to a grand jury with Doe’s cooperation. 

“We want to reexamine whether there’s additional evidence we were not aware of in November of 2024, that exists now that would change our assessment of the case and would result in the grand jury finding that there was criminal conduct,” Van Houten said in a statement provided to ABC News. 

Van Houten’s announcement followed public outcry that has built since the lawsuit was filed from figures such as Florence Pugh, an Oscar-nominated actor, and Toby Morton, a former South Park writer. Morton said over the weekend that he had purchased a website where he will track the case; he also said he bought domain names associated with the seven men alleged to have participated in the attack, as well as Cornell officials who investigated and responded. 

Here’s what we know about Jane Doe, her allegations against seven fellow Cornell students and efforts to investigate the alleged group attack:

The allegations: Doe, a former Cornell student, alleges that she was drugged and repeatedly raped in a multi-hour attack at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024. According to the civil lawsuit and media reports, Doe said that she went to the fraternity house already intoxicated and was made to snort a drug the men told her was ketamine. She alleges that while they sexually assaulted her, one of the assailants sent a message to a fraternity Snapchat group that there was “free pussy upstairs” so that additional men could participate in the rape. Doe reported the alleged attack to university police about three weeks later.

The original investigation: Cornell conducted an internal investigation, which involved at least 12 hearings, according to CBS News. Van Houten told ABC that, at the time, his office relied on Cornell’s investigation to determine whether there was enough evidence to bring a criminal case. Prosecutors didn’t independently investigate the allegations when they were reported in 2024; Van Houten said that in many instances for crimes on campuses, it is standard for county prosecutors to rely on university investigations. Cornell said in a September 21 statement provided to ABC and other news organizations that the university takes allegations of sexual assault “extremely seriously” and that its civil rights office “investigated and adjudicated the allegations consistent with university policies.”

The fallout: None of the seven men alleged to have been involved in the attack were arrested. Two were expelled. Others were briefly suspended or made to write essays and attend workshops. The Chi Phi chapter was banned from campus. Doe left Cornell.

What’s next: Doe’s lawsuit includes evidence that was not originally uncovered by university police, which her attorney attributes to improper training on how to interview a victim of sexual assault. Van Houten said he hopes to take some of this evidence, which was not available to his office in 2024, to the grand jury. That includes a screenshot of the Snapchat message in which Doe said fraternity members discussed her assault.