New York prosecutors reopen Cornell assault inquiry amid hazing concerns

New York state prosecutors plan to reopen a criminal inquiry into an alleged 2024 rape at Cornell University, BBC News reported. The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, alleges in a civil lawsuit that seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity assaulted her in an incident involving alcohol and ketamine. The case is expected to go before a grand jury, BBC reported.

Time reported that Doe filed a lawsuit on Sept. 16 against Cornell University, fraternities and sororities. On Sept. 18, 2026, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said the initial sworn statement provided to his office did not include all the information in Doe’s civil suit. He also told CBS News New York that he had not been shown a transcript of her interview with Cornell campus police.

A MedPage Today opinion article linked the case to wider concerns about biological hazing, describing reported practices such as forced ingestion of spoiled food and biological waste. The author urged campus health systems to ask about hazing exposures, offer nonpunitive protections for students seeking care and consider comprehensive stool PCR tests when illness clusters occur.