Ithaca council halts Cornell event permits amid scrutiny over handling of rape allegations
Ithaca Council Bars Cornell Permits Amid Rape Allegation Fallout
Ithaca, N.Y. – The Ithaca Common Council voted 9‑to‑1 on Wednesday night to suspend the city’s issuance of permits for Cornell University and affiliated student groups, including fraternities, for activities at Ithaca Commons and any events that would require noise permits. The moratorium will remain in effect until November 5 unless the council extends it later, officials said.
The decision was prompted by the university’s handling of a sexual‑assault lawsuit filed by a former student, identified in court documents as Jane Doe. In September, Doe sued seven former members of the Chi Phi fraternity, alleging they drugged and raped her on the night of October 19, 2024, and into the following morning. She says she arrived at the fraternity house already intoxicated, after which the men pressured her to take ketamine and other substances. The fraternity was suspended on November 8, 2024, the same day Doe reported her allegations to campus police.
In a November 14–15 interview, Doe told Cornell police investigators, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.” Her statement was not used in the original criminal investigation. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who had initially declined to file charges, later said that her 2024 sworn statement described her participation as “voluntary, conscious, and consensual.” Van Houten also noted that he had never received the full transcript of the police interviews.
On October 1, Governor Kathy Hochul removed Van Houten’s oversight of the case and appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor. In a statement, Hochul said, “Newly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation conducted by the Cornell Police Department and the decision by the Tompkins County District Attorney not to prosecute an alleged sexual assault on Cornell University’s campus in October 2024. This has, in turn, undercut my faith, and the public’s faith, in the District Attorney’s ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time.”
The council’s moratorium also includes an amendment that requires Cornell to refer any investigation involving sexual or violent crimes to the Ithaca Police Department. The city officials said it is unclear how that referral will be enforced, but the measure signals a desire to increase local oversight of campus‑related incidents.
The vote drew strong support from many Cornell students and Ithaca residents, while some graduate students cautioned that the restrictions could be overly broad. “The moratorium could result in canceled or delayed events, lost deposits, reduced access to venues, and disruptions to conferences,” one graduate student warned.
In a related development, one of the men named in Doe’s lawsuit petitioned a court to remove Attorney General James from the case, alleging bias after a social media post in which she called the alleged assault “horrific and unacceptable.” The petition is pending.
The city’s decision to halt permits for Cornell and affiliated groups underscores the growing pressure on the university to address sexual‑assault allegations and improve campus safety. Whether the moratorium will be extended beyond November 5 remains to be seen, as the council prepares to review the situation in the coming weeks.