Cornell University Journalists Kept Rape Case in Spotlight
Por Shireen Akram-Boshar — Truthout
“We have the right to demand safety from our university administrators,” said one student journalist.
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Student journalists at Cornell University who have relentlessly pursued the story about the alleged gang rape by seven fraternity members on campus are demanding accountability from their institution.
“The Sun is really asking for something that everyone deserves, which is a level of transparency and accountability,” Sophia Dasser, editor-in-chief of Cornell’s student paper, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Tuesday. “We are students, we have the right to demand safety from our university administrators, and we have the right to demand things like anonymized data reports of outcomes and sanctions and punishments from [sexual assault] cases that were reported.”
On September 16, Jane Doe filed a civil lawsuit accusing seven members of a campus fraternity of drugging and raping her in October 2024. The lawsuit also names the university and university leaders — as well as a local bar, the fraternity, and her sorority — for failing to protect her.
In November 2024, a month after the assault, the Tompkins County District Attorney had declined to file charges against the fraternity members accused of rape. But Jane Doe’s civil suit released new details — including messages in the fraternity’s group chat in which the alleged perpetrators encouraged other men to join — that sparked widespread outrage, pushing the DA’s office to reopen the case.
Central to this push was Cornell’s independent student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, which published an editorial shortly after Jane Doe’s September lawsuit — “Cornell Won’t, We Will.” The piece began by naming the seven men accused of rape and sexual assault, and went on to condemn the university for its treatment of the case.
“We ask the questions the University has left unanswered,” the editorial team wrote. “If Cornell follows the law, then we should have access to a public deposition issued from the school, the Title IX investigation opened in January 2025 and how it concluded. Why were these men allowed to ‘pursue their education in a secure and nourishing environment’ and [Jane Doe] was not? Why was she not informed of the outcome of her own Title IX investigation? Who benefited from the 23 months of elapsed time when the public knew nothing? “
“Cornell has failed to protect its students,” the editorial concluded, and “failed to address the growing issue of sexual assault on campus with its pathetic task force.”
The student newspaper — one of the oldest student newspapers in the country – has reported on the case since 2024.
“I really wanted to look at what was happening,” student journalist Cereese Qusba, who has reported on the story for The Sun, told CNN on Tuesday. “I wanted to find out where the defendants were, what happened to the Title IX proceedings, what happened to a criminal investigation. So I started to look into this and I was able to get in contact with Jane Doe, and communicate with her and with her lawyers.”
But The Sun did not stop at coverage of the case. It has also demanded that the university revise its approach to handling sexual assault on campus.
“To The Sun, it was extraordinarily concerning that the last we had heard on any solution from the case was a sexual assault task force that had approached sexual misconduct as an educational problem, one that could be solved with workshops and lectures and website links,” said Dasser. “The individuals who would probably be committing the sexual misconduct are not the ones who would be showing up to these workshops. So we fundamentally believe that this was a poor approach to this issue.”
In a September 29 letter from the editor — “Cornell Won’t Listen, We Will” — Dasser fended off the university’s statements that have put blame on reporting of the case, writing: “We know reporting on a case does not make survivors less safe; silence does.”
The newspaper has also pointed out the university’s double standard in punishing Palestine solidarity activists more harshly than alleged perpetrators of sexual violence. On September 27, The Sun published an anonymous guest submission — “Cornell’s Dereliction of Duty” — pointing out that the university had arrested students for engaging in a sit-in that called for divestment from Israel in early 2024.
In the fall of that year, punishments for student activism in solidarity with Palestine became even harsher, the article states, “entail[ing] not only arrests but also months-long disciplinary proceedings and partial campus access bans.” At the same time, five of the seven men accused of rape were allowed to remain on campus following the Title IX proceedings, and their punishment largely focused on writing essays, the article notes.
The Sun has announced that on Thursday afternoon, Cornell’s Student Assembly will hold an open forum on sexual violence, where students can voice complaints regarding the university’s process. National groups like the Women’s March have now linked their October day of action to the Cornell case, suggesting that coverage of the case could spark wider mobilization against sexual violence across the country.
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Shireen Akram-Boshar is a socialist writer, editor and Middle East/North Africa solidarity activist.
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Fonte: Truthout
