Woman who accused Cornell students of rape says president's response made her feel 'disbelieved'

The woman who has accused seven students of raping her at a Cornell University fraternity house has weighed in on a looming faculty vote of no confidence in the school’s leadership, saying the university’s president questioned why she waited to report being assaulted — an alleged remark she said left her feeling “unsupported and disbelieved.”

Her case has prompted student protests, renewed scrutiny of the university’s disciplinary system and a state investigation into the alleged assault.

In an Oct. 14 letter to faculty leaders obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, the woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, described a conversation she said took place shortly after she reported the alleged assault in November 2024. According to her secondhand account, the president of her sorority told her that Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff had questioned Jane Doe's delay in reporting the alleged assault, which the sorority leader interpreted as casting doubt on her story.

“President Kotlikoff’s initial response was along the lines of, ‘Why did she wait so long to report it?’” Jane Doe wrote in the letter. She said that conversation made her less confident that the administration could handle her experience with the sensitivity and fairness she had expected.

Kotlikoff did not immediately respond Tuesday to an email inquiry about Jane Doe's letter.

The letter, transmitted through her attorney, comes as Cornell faculty consider a resolution declaring no confidence in the university administration’s ability to address what faculty members have described as an “ongoing crisis” of sexual assault on campus.

The resolution was introduced after revelations about Cornell’s handling of Jane Doe’s allegations that she was raped at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024.

Faculty members began debating the resolution at a meeting last Wednesday, where Kotlikoff faced pointed questions about the university’s response to sexual assault allegations and its oversight of fraternities. The faculty's Senate is expected to resume debate on Oct. 28 before holding an electronic vote.

In her letter, Jane Doe said she wanted faculty members to have information that might be relevant to their deliberations. She emphasized that she was not trying to tell them how to vote.

“My intention is not to prescribe how the Senate should interpret this account, but rather to provide information that its members may wish to consider or investigate further,” she wrote.

Messages seeking comment were left for Jane Doe’s lawyers, Thomas Giuffra and W. Whitney Seals.