Jane Doe told campus police during an interview in 2024 that she was "100% confident" she was raped.
A former Cornell University student who alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted by seven fraternity members told campus police she was “100% confident” she was raped, according to an interview transcript obtained by CBS News New York.
The transcript raises new questions about why prosecutors initially declined to bring charges in the 2024 case. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told CBS he had never seen the transcript before his office made that decision, saying it “changes the landscape” and that he would seek the document and follow up with Cornell police.
The woman, identified as Jane Doe in a civil lawsuit, was interviewed over two days in November 2024, more than three weeks after the alleged assault at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house. She told investigators that she had been drinking and using drugs that night and had gaps in her memory, according to CBS.
She distinguished the initial sexual activity from what she said happened later, telling police she was physically hit and later raped. The transcript also shows her telling an investigator she had told one man she was uncomfortable and another that she was too tired. When asked whether she ultimately gave in after being questioned, she responded, “Yes. It was coercion, yes,” adding that she was “completely and totally incapacitated,” CBS reported.
Van Houten said his initial decision not to prosecute was based on a six-page written statement signed by the woman, not the full interview transcript. When told she had said she was confident she was raped, he told CBS that information had not been provided to him and that prosecutors would have wanted to investigate it further.
The district attorney’s office reopened its criminal investigation this week following the woman’s lawsuit and plans to present evidence to a grand jury. Cornell said its police department provided the results of the university’s investigation to the DA. Attorneys for two defendants named in the lawsuit told CBS their clients deny the allegations.
Cornell has also agreed to bring in outside counsel for an independent review of the university’s response to the case after Gov. Kathy Hochul called for one.
"The allegations in the Cornell University sexual assault case are nothing short of horrifying," she wrote on X. "For any student to come forward after an experience like this takes extraordinary courage. No student should ever be left wondering whether the institutions meant to protect them will listen and act."
‘I felt like bait’: Accuser recalls 2025 Cornell hearing
The former student also described the alleged assault during Cornell’s 2025 Title IX hearing, according to a heavily redacted 99-page university report obtained by ABC News.
“I felt like bait. I felt like lions around me,” she said, describing the Chi Phi fraternity house as a “totally debilitating place to be in.”
The report said Cornell investigators conducted 50 interviews with 32 witnesses, including fraternity members named in the woman’s civil lawsuit. It also found that someone at the house had overdosed on ketamine the day before the alleged assault and that the drug was used by multiple people at the house at the time, ABC reported.
The woman told investigators that the ketamine she took left her in a “vague consciousness,” making her disoriented and unable to think clearly, according to the report.
ABC also reported that one fraternity member apologized during the hearing for not stopping what he said may have been nonconsensual conduct. Cornell concluded that the member did not take part in the alleged assault but found him responsible for attempted sexual exploitation.
Text messages show fallout days after the alleged assault
The same Cornell report obtained by ABC News included text messages between Jane Doe and the fraternity member who invited her to the Chi Phi house.
Four days after the alleged assault, she wrote that “everyone knows” and that her “reputation is destroyed and I’m utterly ashamed,” according to ABC.
In another exchange, after the fraternity member said he was worried about being “labeled an assaulter,” Jane Doe wrote that people were changing the narrative because, “in any sexual scenario w one woman and many men the woman was probably the victim,” ABC reported.
"I know there are rumors I was gang banged," she continued.
When he later asked to speak by phone, she replied, "I think I'm done talking to you. I know you lied," and then, “no. never again.” ABC said it was not clear what she meant by that accusation.
The Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth)Cornell’s campus response
Cornell barred the Chi Phi chapter from campus after the alleged October 2024 incident and later conducted a separate Title IX investigation.
The university said a hearing panel issued “a range of sanctions,” including expulsions and suspensions, and that the chapter remains closed and barred from campus. Cornell has not revealed which students received which sanctions, citing privacy restrictions.
Cornell said it supports the reopened criminal investigation and an opportunity for the woman’s account to be heard by a grand jury.
