Cornell president admits he never followed up on gang rape allegation ahead of no-confidence debate

In 2024, Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff was aware that a student had reported being gang raped at a fraternity house, yet he failed to follow up on the case to find out what had happened to her or if the accused students had been penalized. This revelation was shared in an interview with The New York Times, published just a day before Cornell's Faculty Senate was set to deliberate a no-confidence resolution against him.

Kotlikoff's admission came to light during the interview, which was released on the same day as the Faculty Senate's debate. He only learned of the student's withdrawal from Cornell and the expulsion or suspension of the accused students recently. The president's acknowledgement of this "deeply disturbing" allegation involving drug use and sexual violence at the Chi Phi fraternity house was made in a November 2024 message to the Cornell community. He stated that criminal and university investigations were underway at the time.

In addition to initiating a presidential task force to investigate Cornell's handling of sexual assault, Kotlikoff claimed that he had followed up on the outcomes of the criminal and Title IX investigations into the woman's allegations. However, he admitted during the interview that he had not taken any further action to learn the results of these investigations. The case has since drawn significant attention.