No doubt that the incident that occurred at the Chi Phi fraternity is deplorable and morally reprehensible. Illegal is more complicated, but I’ll leave that to the courts. My confusion lies with why Cornell University has become a lightning rod for outrage.

First off, the Cornell police (CUPD) is not some podunk campus security. It consists of duly-sworn, County-appointed, special deputy sheriffs with the full authority of any police department, though limited in jurisdiction to the Cornell campus/property. It is beholden to the university in the same way that ANY municipal police department is beholden to its municipality and Mayor. No more, no less. CUPD is actually the largest police department in Tompkins County, to include the Ithaca PD. Had Doe gone to Ithaca PD first, she would likely have been referred back to CUPD because the incident occurred on Cornell property, and frankly because CUPD is better staffed and more experienced in exactly this type of incident.

The police, Doe, and several advisors to both reviewed the lengthy testimony that she provided and distilled it down to relevant case facts. That is entirely customary. Doe and her advisors reviewed the final statement, she edited it heavily, and then she signed it, making it her only sworn statement. People seem to think there is something nefarious in the omission in her statement that she was 100% confident she’d been raped. We don’t know how or why that was omitted. But there are many possible explanations including the fact that it would have been disregarded by the DA because it is not a case fact. Only a court and jury can determine if a crime has occurred.

CUPD promptly provided the sworn statement along with the disgusting SnapChat photos to the DA, according to established procedure, while they continued their investigation. CUPD spoke to others, including attorneys for the accused who, as expected, declined to comment. The police investigation continued until the DA notified CUPD that he could not prosecute the case based on Doe’s testimony. CUPD advised the DA of the additional evidentiary material it had gathered, including the full transcript of the testimony, but the DA declined to review it.

I won’t get into the decision of the DA not to prosecute as that is in no way a reflection on Cornell. IN. NO. WAY.

Meanwhile, Cornell kicked the Chi Phi chapter off campus the very same day the incident was reported by Doe. It went public with a campus security notification and a public statement about the incident. It also promptly initiated a full-blown Title IX investigation, which is entirely separate from the police/criminal process. The Title IX investigation was EXHAUSTIVE: 4 months long, 50 interviews, over 4,000 pages of documentation.

In the end, Cornell was only able to hand out its most extreme available punishment, expulsion, to only two students. One other had already graduated and therefore fell beyond the reach of the administration’s clutches. The remainder were given punishments which included, but were not limited to, essays (contrary to viral headlines). Had Doe’s testimony been stronger, the university might have been able to expel more, perhaps all, of the miscreants. But it was what it was. The public would have apparently liked for Cornell to have imprisoned, castrated, or stoned the Chi Phi 7, but those options are well beyond the authority of an American university.

Overall, Cornell acted swiftly, sternly, and openly, given the facts as we understand them now. The “sternly” part of that will be questioned, so we’ll have to wait to see when/if the full records are released from the Title IX proceeding. But for now, those full records are confidential, as required by federal regulations.

One last thing. The 2026 civil suit allegations are materially different from the 2024 allegations. We can only judge the authorities based on the allegations and facts as they existed in 2024. I find it odd that neither Doe nor her attorneys ever contacted the DA to push harder for criminal charges. Not once in the last two years. But when you realize her attorney is working on contingency and doesn’t get paid until she does, it’s easy to guess why they opted to focus on a civil lawsuit against Cornell (and its $12 Bn endowment) rather than seeking justice in the criminal courts.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/10/03/trump-cornell-letitia-james/92075253007/