New York's governor has appointed a special prosecutor to oversee an investigation into a woman's claims that she was gang-raped at a Cornell University fraternity house, stating that she has lost faith in the local district attorney's ability to handle the case.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that she had signed an executive order appointing the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James as the special prosecutor.
"Newly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation conducted by the Cornell Police Department and the decision by the Tompkins County District Attorney not to prosecute a reported sexual assault on Cornell University's campus in October 2024," Hochul said.
"This has, in turn, undercut my faith, and the public's faith, in the District Attorney's ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time."
Hochul stated that the attorney general would oversee the investigation and, if warranted, present evidence to a grand jury.
"The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued," Hochul said. "This action will ensure that the matter is fully and thoroughly investigated without conflict or bias, and handled independently with the rigor that this matter demands."
A message left for Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten was not immediately returned late Thursday.
Hochul's announcement came shortly after dozens of students and community members spent hours demanding transparency and accountability from university leaders at a forum sponsored by Cornell's student government.
New information about the purported 2024 assault, the university's response, and the lack of criminal charges at the time has been disclosed over the last week since a lawsuit was filed last month.
The case has roiled the Ivy League campus and raised questions about its response and the larger issue of how sexual assaults are handled on college campuses.
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe in court documents, notified campus police of the purported assault, discussed it with the university's internal investigators, and is pursuing a lawsuit filed in September.
The lawsuit names seven fraternity brothers, the university, the Chi Phi fraternity, and others, and claims that one of the men sent a social media message to more than 50 other fraternity members alerting them to what was happening and inviting people to take part.
Lawyers for two of the men she is suing have denied they participated in a sexual assault. One stated that his client had not touched the woman. Attempts by The Associated Press to reach the other men or their representatives have been unsuccessful.
Van Houten, the Tompkins County district attorney, had announced he would reopen the investigation earlier this week after reviewing new information in the woman's civil lawsuit. He had issued a statement defending his initial decision not to issue charges and maintaining that the woman's first account to police did not include claims that she was drugged against her will, incapacitated beyond the ability to consent, or forced into sex.
Under pressure from the public and politicians, including Hochul, the private university agreed Wednesday to bring in outside lawyers to independently investigate how it handled the woman's claims.
Meanwhile, over more than 2½ hours Thursday, students and other community members expressed anger, frustration, and grief over Cornell's handling of sexual assault claims against fraternity members, with several speakers sharing their own personal experiences of sexual violence.
Information for this article was contributed by Claudia Lauer of The Associated Press.
