Cornell University faculty weigh no confidence vote over sex assault

Faculty at Cornell University are weighing a vote of no confidence in the school’s administration as student protesters take over the campus in response to sexual assault allegations on Tuesday.

The no confidence resolution has secured support from 40 of the faculty senate’s 75 voting members, according to the resolution’s sponsor, Prof. Paul Ortiz.

“As you may suspect, we were approached in our capacity as faculty senators by numerous Cornell colleagues demanding action. Many of these faculty – including myself – were approached by students at Cornell who are upset, fearful for their personal safety, and wanting our university to address the perennial problem of sexual assault on the campus,” Ortiz wrote.

AOC’S DRAMATIC RETELLING OF CORNELL RAPE ALLEGATIONS COLLIDES WITH COMPLAINT DETAILS

Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff also faced questions from the student body during a campus assembly on Monday as protests took over the college.

“We’re not hiding anything at Cornell,” Kotlikoff told students, according to the Cornell Daily Sun student newspaper. “You will hear proposals from us going forward around what we’re going to do to try and improve this culture and address this problem.”

Kotlikoff has so far dismissed student calls for his resignation.

CORNELL CAMPUS POLICE MADE DRUG ARREST AT CHI PHI FRATERNITY HOUSE HOURS BEFORE ALLEGED GANG RAPE

Students protest on Ho Plaza at Cornell University, Monday October 5, 2026 in Ithaca, NY. in response to an The protest in response to an alleged sexual assault in 2024, accused are some members of the Chi Phi fraternity. (Richard Beetham for Digital) ( )

Seven former Chi Phi fraternity brothers are accused in a lawsuit of drugging and raping a female Cornell student during a night of drinking, drugs and group sex at their fraternity house in October 2024.

The accuser, identified in court papers by the pseudonym Jane Doe, alleges the men sexually assaulted her after she arrived intoxicated and was pressured into taking ketamine and other substances. The men have denied wrongdoing, with some maintaining the sexual activity was consensual and others denying they participated in it. No criminal charges have been filed against the seven men.

ATTORNEY FOR ACCUSED CORNELL STUDENT CALLS ON LETITIA JAMES TO STEP ASIDE OVER PRIOR COMMENTS

Students protest on Ho Plaza at Cornell University, Monday October 5, 2026 in Ithaca, NY. in response to an The protest in response to an alleged sexual assault in 2024, accused are some members of the Chi Phi fraternity. (Richard Beetham for Digital) ( )

The case has now erupted into a political and legal firestorm, with New York Attorney General Letitia James announcing Friday that her office is conducting an “active criminal investigation” after Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed the Office of the Attorney General as special prosecutor. Cornell has separately agreed to retain outside counsel to conduct an independent review of the university’s handling of the allegations.

At the center of the controversy are sharply conflicting accounts of what happened that night, including differences between what Doe said in the weeks afterward, what prosecutors say they received from Cornell police and the explosive allegations contained in a lawsuit filed nearly two years later.

Students protest on Ho Plaza at Cornell University, Monday October 5, 2026 in Ithaca, NY. in response to an The protest in response to an alleged sexual assault in 2024, accused are some members of the Chi Phi fraternity. (Richard Beetham for Digital) ( )

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Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who initially declined to pursue charges, has said Doe’s November 2024 sworn statement did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped and instead described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as “voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”

‘ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.