Kathy Hochul has appointed Letitia James's office as special prosecutor in the investigation into an alleged 2024 sexual assault at Cornell University.
The case was reopened after a civil lawsuit by the woman, identified as Jane Doe, brought renewed attention and additional information to the allegations.
Questions over what Cornell police knew and what the local district attorney was told have intensified scrutiny of how the case was initially handled.
Nearly two years after a Cornell University student first went to campus police with allegations of sexual assault, the case has moved beyond the university and the local prosecutor who initially declined to bring charges. New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday appointed Attorney General Letitia James's office as special prosecutor, saying newly released information had undermined her faith—and the public's—in the local district attorney's ability to handle the case.
Hochul's executive order gives James's office authority to oversee the investigation into the alleged October 2024 assault and, if warranted, present evidence to a grand jury. James said her office would approach the investigation guided by “the facts and the law”. The intervention comes days after Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten reopened the case following new information contained in a civil lawsuit filed by the woman, identified in court papers as Jane Doe.
A Case Reopened Two Years Later
Doe alleges in her lawsuit that she was sexually assaulted by seven fraternity members at Cornell's Chi Phi house in October 2024. The suit names the seven men, Cornell University, the fraternity and others as defendants, and alleges that one fraternity member sent a message to more than 50 members alerting them to what was happening and inviting others to participate. Lawyers representing two of the men have denied that their clients participated in a sexual assault; AP said attempts to reach the others or their representatives were unsuccessful.
Van Houten had defended the original decision not to prosecute, saying the woman's November 2024 statement to Cornell police did not allege that she had been involuntarily drugged, rendered incapable of consent or forced into sex. Her lawyer has said transcripts show she explicitly told Cornell investigators that she had been raped, while Van Houten said his office's earlier review was based on the statement it had received. Hochul said those developments raised serious questions about both the Cornell Police Department's investigation and the district attorney's earlier decision.
Cornell, meanwhile, has defended its response. The university says it conducted a months-long Title IX investigation, imposed expulsions and suspensions, and indefinitely suspended the Chi Phi chapter. It has declined to identify students or detail individual sanctions, citing privacy rules. Under mounting scrutiny, Cornell has also agreed to an independent review of its handling of the allegations.
A Campus Demands Answers
The change in prosecutors came as students and community members gathered for hours at a student-government forum, demanding greater transparency over Cornell's handling of sexual assault allegations. Several speakers recounted their own experiences and called for stronger prevention measures, greater accountability and changes to the university's Greek-life system.
For a case that began behind the closed doors of a fraternity house, the scrutiny has steadily widened—from campus investigators to a county prosecutor, from a civil courtroom to the state's highest law-enforcement office. James's appointment does not determine whether a crime occurred or whether charges will follow. It does mean that the investigation will now begin again under a different authority, with the decisions made two years ago themselves under examination.
