A former U.S. deputy attorney general will oversee an independent review into Cornell University's prevention and response to sexual misconduct complaints, school officials announced Tuesday. Sally Yates, who served as the Department of Justice's second-highest ranking official from 2015 through 2017 during the Obama administration, will lead the probe to examine Cornell's "policies, practices and resources" regarding sexual harassment, sexual assault and related misconduct on campus in the aftermath of an alleged rape at a fraternity house in 2024. The assessment will also analyze the ways reports of sexual misconduct are received, as well as support provided to students, related disciplinary decisions and the role of campus police.
"Sally Yates brings extraordinary experience, independence and judgment to this work," university trustee Anne Meinig Smalling said in a statement. "The questions raised by the Jane Doe matter warrant a rigorous examination of Cornell's response to that case, but our responsibility is broader. Yates and her team to examine Cornell's overall approach to preventing and responding to sexual misconduct, identify where we are doing things well and where we can do better, and recommend changes that will help make our community safer." The addition of Yates comes after Cornell University police received a tip from an anonymous caller stating that Chi Phi fraternity leadership asked a potential witness to keep quiet because the "reputation of all involved and the frat would be ruined," according to school records reviewed by ABC News.
Cornell investigators then questioned witnesses about a potential cover-up by the fraternity brothers days later, videos obtained by ABC News show. "Chi Phi held a meeting essentially to get all of the men on the same page about what happened," one female student reportedly told investigators. "I know for a fact there are group me messages about the situation." All seven men in the lawsuit have denied the sexual assault allegations.
The announcement also comes just one day after protesters smashed a glass door and covered walls with graffiti at the Ivy League institution as backlash grows over the school's handling of an investigation into the alleged rape at Chi Phi fraternity house. In November 2024, a woman known only as Jane Doe told campus police she had been sexually assaulted by several fraternity brothers a month earlier while being pressured to drink and take drugs. One of the accused fraternity brothers allegedly sent messages to fellow members inviting them to take part, the woman's lawsuit claims.
The details of the alleged sexual assault have prompted a national conversation about violence against women on college campuses, including public comments by actresses Florence Pugh and Mariska Hargitay, as well as New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "When I read about what happened at Cornell, those men posted in a group chat," Ocasio-Cortez said late last month at the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center. "That means it was normal to them.
We cannot protect those spaces anymore. Never again." Yates's review will also focus on the school's response to the allegations involving Jane Doe and the Chi Phi fraternity brothers, university officials said. "It is imperative that Cornell be willing to examine itself with the same rigor we expect of others," Smalling's statement continued.
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