Cornell sued over claims it let a student keep abusing women

Two women sued Cornell University and a former male student in Tompkins County Supreme Court on Nov. 10, 2023, alleging the school failed to protect them and others from repeated sexual assault, abuse and misconduct. The lawsuit, first reported by New York Focus, survived an early test: a judge denied motions to dismiss, and pretrial discovery is now moving ahead. Cornell fought back in a statement, saying it "disputes any assertion that it failed to investigate reported sexual misconduct" and "absolutely rejects" any suggestion it would have ignored multiple reports. A university spokesperson declined to comment further on the pending litigation, and the plaintiffs did not respond to requests for comment.

One accuser said in an affidavit that the student sexually assaulted and abused her in September and October 2018, and that she filed a Title IX civil rights case against him around that time. The second woman said he "sexually, physically, and verbally assaulted me in his on-campus dorm room" on May 7, 2021. She filed a Title IX complaint that August, but wrote in an April 2024 submission that "no action was taken" and he kept attending Cornell.

A sworn statement from one of the women, dated April 19, 2024, says the university's Title IX office received "numerous" other complaints against the same individual. The student, whose name NBC News is withholding because he has not been charged criminally, denied all allegations in court papers. His attorney, Keith White, said his client's answers "are asserted in the responses filed in the lawsuit" and declined to comment further; those filings contain denials but no additional information. According to a person with knowledge of the matter, Cornell suspended him and he later transferred to another school, though it was not clear what led to the suspension.

The case has emerged amid a wider firestorm at the Ivy League school. A separate lawsuit filed in September by a woman identified in court papers as Jane Doe alleges she was gang-raped and forced to do drugs at the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024. An internal investigation produced two expulsions and other repercussions but no criminal charges, and New York's governor tapped Attorney General Letitia James on Oct. 1 to lead a new criminal investigation. Last week, James announced a former federal prosecutor was recruited to head that inquiry.

Days after the 2023 lawsuit came to light, Cornell's faculty senate passed a vote of no confidence in administrators' ability to handle what the sponsors called an "ongoing crisis of sexual assault."