Prosecutors in New York have reopened an investigation into allegations that a female student at Cornell University, an Ivy League school, was gang-raped by seven male students, about two years after the case first surfaced.
Matthew Van Houten, district attorney for Tompkins County, New York, said in a statement that he will present evidence in the case to a grand jury to determine whether the seven students should be indicted, according to Reuters and the Associated Press on the 28th.
The case emerged after a Cornell student alleged she was sexually assaulted by seven male students in October 2024 at the house of Chi Phi, a campus fraternity. The woman was 20 at the time.
The names of the students identified in the case have since circulated on social media and in Cornell's student newspaper. One Korean student surnamed Lee is reported to be among those named.
The woman filed a civil lawsuit on the 16th of this month, alleging that alcohol and drugs given to her by fraternity members left her unable to control her body and that she was then assaulted by multiple students.
The complaint includes detailed accounts of what happened, along with screenshots of messages that allegedly show fraternity members using a Snapchat group chat to encourage other students to take part.
The woman reported the assault to campus police about three weeks after the incident, but prosecutors at the time did not bring criminal charges against the students involved.
Cornell said it later conducted its own investigation and disciplined some students, including expulsions and suspensions. The university did not say how many students received which penalties.
The case has drawn renewed attention in the United States because the allegations involve an Ivy League campus and because of questions over whether the university and law enforcement responded appropriately in the early stages.
Prosecutors also explained why the case did not lead to criminal charges in 2024. According to Van Houten, the statement the woman initially gave to investigators did not include allegations that she had been gang-raped or that she had been drugged against her will.
But prosecutors decided to review the case again after the woman recently filed a civil suit containing new allegations. They plan to present the evidence they have gathered to a grand jury to determine whether there is sufficient basis to bring formal charges.
A grand jury in the United States serves a different role from a trial jury, which decides guilt or innocence in a criminal case. Based on materials submitted by prosecutors, it determines whether probable cause exists to formally charge a suspect.
Cornell also said that claims the university failed to impose meaningful discipline on those involved in the case are not true.
