Cornell Sexual Assault Case: DA Reopens Investigation After New Lawsuit

By Kimi · September 29, 2026 · 4 min read

Key takeaways

🔑 Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced on Monday, September 28, 2026, that his office is reopening its criminal investigation into an alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity house, after previously declining to bring charges.
The reopening follows a civil lawsuit filed September 14, 2026, in New York state Supreme Court by a former Cornell student, identified only as Jane Doe, who alleges seven fraternity members drugged and sexually assaulted her at the Chi Phi house in October 2024.
Van Houten says the lawsuit included new evidence, including an alleged fraternity group-chat screenshot, that his office was never given in 2024 and that differs from the woman’s original statement to police at the time.
No criminal charges have been filed against any of the seven men named in the civil suit as of this writing; a Tompkins County grand jury will now review the case and testimony, a process expected to take about 45 days.
Cornell says it conducted its own Title IX investigation in 2024 that led to student discipline and a permanent ban on the Chi Phi chapter, though it has not detailed individual sanctions, citing federal student-privacy law.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has separately called for an independent outside review of how Cornell handled the case, and reports say the state attorney general’s office has also begun examining the university’s 2024 response.

Tompkins County’s district attorney has reopened the criminal investigation into an alleged gang rape at Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity house, after a new civil lawsuit surfaced evidence his office says it never saw the first time. District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced the move on Monday, September 28, 2026, saying a grand jury will now examine whether the case should lead to criminal charges. No one has been charged, and the grand jury’s review is expected to take about 45 days.

What happened at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity in 2024?

A then-Cornell student, identified in court filings only as Jane Doe, alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted by multiple members of the Chi Phi fraternity at the group’s Ithaca, New York, house on Saturday, October 19, 2024. The woman, then about 20 years old and a member of a Cornell sorority, says the assault lasted several hours and involved seven fraternity members. She reported the incident to Cornell and to police roughly three weeks later. Cornell opened its own Title IX investigation at the time, and Tompkins County prosecutors separately reviewed the case for possible criminal charges.

What does the new lawsuit allege?

The woman filed a civil lawsuit in New York state Supreme Court on Monday, September 14, 2026, naming Cornell University, the Chi Phi fraternity, and the seven accused members as defendants. The roughly 101-page complaint accuses the university of negligence and breach of contract, and accuses the individual defendants of sexual assault and battery and of violating New York’s Human Rights Law. It seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. The complaint also includes new material, including an alleged screenshot of a fraternity group chat, that the woman’s attorneys say shows members discussing the incident afterward. Cornell and the named individuals have not been found liable for anything in the suit, which is still in its early stages.

Why did the Tompkins County DA reopen the criminal investigation?

Van Houten reopened the case because he says the new lawsuit contains evidence, including that alleged group-chat screenshot, that his office was never given in 2024. He has said the allegations in the lawsuit are “dramatically different” from the woman’s original statement to police, which he says did not describe drugging or a prolonged assault by multiple people. Prosecutors closed their initial review without filing charges partly on that basis. Van Houten said his office now wants to determine, with the woman’s cooperation, whether the new material changes that earlier assessment enough for a grand jury to find evidence of criminal conduct.

Have any of the accused fraternity members been charged?

No. As of this writing, none of the seven men named in the lawsuit has been criminally charged, and the Tompkins County grand jury had not yet convened or reached any decision. The men are defendants in the civil suit, where the allegations against them remain just that: allegations that have not been tested in court. Van Houten’s office says the grand jury process, which will include the woman’s testimony, is expected to take roughly 45 days from the September 28 announcement.

How has Cornell responded?

Cornell says it takes the allegations seriously and supports the DA’s decision to reopen the criminal investigation, while defending the internal process it ran in 2024. A university spokesperson said Cornell conducted a Title IX investigation that lasted several months and resulted in discipline for multiple students, plus a permanent ban on the Chi Phi chapter from campus. The lawsuit alleges that of the seven accused students, only two were expelled and the rest received lesser sanctions such as suspension or coursework; Cornell has not confirmed individual outcomes, citing the federal student-privacy law that restricts disclosure of disciplinary records.

What other reviews has the case triggered?

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has called for an independent, outside review of how Cornell handled the case, separate from the criminal investigation. Hochul called the allegations troubling and said an outside review should determine whether the university met its obligations to protect students. Reports also indicate the office of the state attorney general has begun its own examination of Cornell’s 2024 response. Neither review is expected to affect the criminal case directly, but both add to the scrutiny the university faces over how it handled the matter the first time.

What happens next?

The most immediate next step is the Tompkins County grand jury, which is expected to decide within about six weeks of the September 28 announcement whether there is enough evidence to indict any of the accused men. The civil lawsuit will continue on a separate, likely slower track through the New York court system regardless of what the grand jury decides. This remains a fast-moving story, and neither the criminal investigation nor the civil case had produced a final outcome as of this writing.

We’ll update this page if the grand jury reaches a decision or the civil case has a major development.

How we verified this

Primary-event confirmation: The DA’s reopening announcement, the grand jury referral, and Cornell’s public response were checked against multiple independent news-agency and major-outlet reports published September 28-29, 2026, plus a specialist outlet close to the university, and cross-checked against Cornell’s own published statements on the case. Conflicting dates resolved: Wire reports gave the civil lawsuit’s filing date as either September 14 or September 16, 2026; this piece uses September 14, the date given in the more detailed reporting on the complaint itself, and notes prosecutors said the “dramatically different” new evidence prompted their review. Names withheld by editorial policy: Some outlets have published the names of the seven accused fraternity members drawn from court filings. This article withholds them by policy, since none of the seven has been criminally charged, and treats every allegation against them as alleged and unproven rather than established fact. The complainant is referred to only as “the woman” or “Jane Doe,” consistent with court filings. Still moving: As of this writing, the grand jury had not convened or reached a decision, the civil suit remains in its early stages, and a separate independent review of Cornell’s 2024 response — requested by New York’s governor, with the state attorney general’s office also reportedly examining it — had only just been announced. No betting odds, spreads, or win-probability models appear anywhere on this page.