Cornell students protest university’s handling of sex assault claims

Students are questioning Cornell University’s response and raising worries about safety on the Ivy League campus, after a sexual assault case involving multiple members of a Cornell University fraternity.

Among those affected was Cornell junior Sophia Riley Sim, who skipped school this week as a 2024 incident’s allegations and the university’s handling of the matter faced increased attention.“Cornell has failed our community due to lack of accountability, lack of transparency, and failure to address the state of the Cornell student body at this time,” Sim, a junior, said Thursday at a public hearing on sexual assault organized by Cornell’s Student Assembly.There has been no real contact from university administration, administrators and faculty.

The Ivy League school has defended its handling of the incident, saying it carried out a thorough investigation and banned the Chi Phi fraternity connected to the alleged attack from campus. The school says it took several disciplinary actions, including expulsions.

It did not immediately reply to a request for further comment.

The hearing, held in one of Cornell’s oldest halls, occurred just days after the claims became public following the filing of a civil case and an announcement that a criminal investigation would be reopened.

The case has renewed criticism of how law enforcement and colleges handle reports of sexual assault, and students are questioning if the protocols are sufficient to safeguard them. New York state officials are also paying attention, naming a special prosecutor to probe the matter.

unsafe feeling

At an Assembly session, speakers broke down in tears and described their experiences of sexual assault, criticizing the attitude of the respected university.

The Student Assembly, which represents Cornell’s undergraduate students and can make suggestions to the university’s bodies or offices, unanimously passed a resolution urging Cornell administration to give a thorough explanation of how the university handled the investigation. It also demanded that the university reveal any disciplinary action taken against the accused students and publish annual reports on the outcome of any future sexual misconduct cases.

Organizers had urged that the hearing not name or record many of the dozens of speakers.

One girl stated she had worked her whole life to get into Cornell and now felt it wasn’t worth it. Several others stated they did not feel protected at the 2,300-acre school in New York’s Finger Lakes region.

A university study released on its website in 2025 found that 35 percent of undergraduate women said they had been subjected to nonconsensual sexual intercourse involving force or incapacitation since entering Cornell. Up from 20% in 2021.“We are going to fight

The lawsuit says fraternity members gave the victim with beer, marijuana and ketamine, and then sexually assaulted her when she was incapacitated. It also claims Cornell did not appropriately discipline some of the implicated students and enabled some to seek reduced punishment by submitting essays. Cornell said the essays were not the sole punishment handed down.

The guys all denied misconduct, the New York Times reported, citing internal Cornell documents. Some men maintained the intercourse was consensual, while others denied participating.

Students at Cornell have planned a rally for Monday to urge for more steps to protect victims.

“I reported a sexual assault to the university and the process really added to my anguish,” said Jane Wang, a public policy major.“Accompanying all of my recovery from the assault mentally, physically and emotionally was an abundance of paperwork, very little instruction on how to navigate it and no follow-up from our office about an outcome,” she stated.

Due to constraints imposed by privacy rules, the Ivy League institution said in a statement on its website, it is unable to release complete information about individual students and disciplinary outcomes. ““This should not be taken as any lack of seriousness regarding the conduct in question,” the statement read.

Several additional female students told the committee that they had been sexually attacked in the past on Cornell’s campus, but provided no details.

“The results from the 2025 survey of sexual assaults were unacceptable,” said Saanya Agarwal, the student women’s issues leader at Cornell University.“Our campus, and campuses across the United States…this is not something that we are going to accept,” added Agarwal. We’re going to battle.