Cornell University students this week held a seven-hour sit-in and began an economic blackout over the university’s handling of allegations that seven Chi Phi fraternity members sexually assaulted an anonymous woman in 2024. About 80 students were in a campus dining hall Wednesday afternoon for the protest, according to the Washington Examiner, while PBS reported an earlier rally drew thousands of students, faculty and community members.
The woman, identified as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit last month alleging she was coerced into taking drugs and assaulted at an off-campus house in October 2024, the Daily Mail reported. Prosecutors had found insufficient evidence to file criminal sexual-assault charges, according to that outlet. Cornell later investigated under Title IX and shut down the fraternity.
Cornell’s Board of Trustees has retained Sally Q. Yates of King & Spalding to conduct an independent review of the university’s prevention and response to sexual misconduct, including investigations, discipline, campus police and fraternity oversight.