Despite efforts from Cornell University senior leadership to address an alleged 2024 gang rape that has gripped the nation, hundreds of students, faculty members and Ithaca residents protested in the city’s downtown Tuesday and called for faculty to issue a vote of no confidence in the administration.
At a peaceful protest on the Ithaca Commons, rallygoers chanted in support of the former Cornell student who said she was assaulted, known as Jane Doe: “To Jane Doe, we stand with you,” and “To Cornell: We are watching.”
Attendees held up handmade signs such as “Justice 4 Jane Doe” and “End Rape Culture.” One organizer, Shannon Porter, read out a letter written by Doe herself, in which she said protestors across the country and the “courageous Cornell student body” have given her and sexual assault survivors “hope.”
“Thank you for turning your belief into action,” Doe said in the letter as she called on the crowd to continue to make their voices heard “with conviction, compassion and peace.”
“Thank you for recognizing the countless difficulties and obstacles that come with being Jane, and demanding the systems that so often fail us can do better,” the letter continued.
The protest came on the same day Cornell’s president, Michael Kotlikoff, banned Greek life events for the rest of the academic year and said he was implementing measures that would address a “disturbing” culture of drug and alcohol abuse on campus.
“It is clear that women on our campus continue to question whether they are safe,” Kotlikoff wrote in a letter addressed to the Cornell community on Oct. 13. “We must meet this moment by acknowledging where we have fallen short and taking meaningful action.”
Cornell University declined to comment on the rally.
For many of the event organizers, which included students from Ithaca College and Cornell, and consent education and sexual assault prevention advocates from across the country, Kotlikoff’s announcement barely scratches the surface of the reforms they say are necessary.
In a letter read out by an organizer, Ariana Kim, who is an associate professor at Cornell’s Department of Music, said that she has seen university leadership fail sexual assault survivors throughout the 13 years that she has taught there.
“This is a boiling point that represents systemic inaction and misuse of administrative power,” Kim said of Doe’s case. “Even when taking proactive measures to try and make meaningful change, I have been continually met with resistance from those in power. To the Cornell upper administration: You have shown that your interest in protecting institutional image and the bottom line are more important than community safety and true integrity.”
“I think he’s saving face, to be honest,” said Nigel Tatem, a third-year computer science major in the College of Engineering. “It’s far from the solution we need.”
Tatem and others are calling for Kotlikoff to resign. At the rally, organizers pushed Cornell and other universities to implement stronger measures to prevent sexual assaults on campuses, and said lawmakers need to change existing consent laws to better protect assault survivors.
The protest in the city’s downtown on Tuesday followed a week of rallies held across the country as the nation continues to express outrage over the university’s handling of claims by Doe, who said in a civil lawsuit that she was sexually assaulted by several men at the Chi Phi fraternity chapter in 2024. Lawyers for several of the defendants say the encounters were consensual.
The protest comes as faculty members at Cornell will hear arguments from colleagues on Wednesday over whether to issue a vote of no confidence in Cornell’s top brass. The group of faculty and staff in favor of the motion say the university is ill-equipped to adequately address issues of sexual assault on campus. The resolution, up for debate on Wednesday, will hear a second debate on Oct. 28, after which it will be up for a vote.
Hundreds marched to the White House in solidarity with Jane Doe, while similar rallies and protests occurred in Boston, New York City and at other college campuses, including the University of California, Los Angeles.
The protest in Ithaca is the latest in a series of events that students have led or helped organize in recent weeks to express their support for Jane Doe and sexual assault survivors, and let their wrath rage against administrators at Cornell they say failed to protect Doe. Together with the feminist, gender and sexuality studies department, students hosted an open town hall last week. And last Wednesday, students skipped class and held a seven-hour sit-in, with some boycotting any purchases at Cornell’s venues and dining halls.
The accused students, some of whom were expelled or suspended, have denied wrongdoing. None have been charged with a crime. Following concern that Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten might have dismissed further investigation in 2024 without a full consideration of the evidence, Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor to take over the case.