A former student’s lawsuit alleges seven fraternity members drugged and sexually assaulted her, prompting prosecutors to reexamine evidence from the 2024 case.
ITHACA, NY — A New York prosecutor has reopened an investigation into allegations that seven Cornell University fraternity members sexually assaulted a student in 2024, saying a recently filed civil lawsuit contains significant allegations that differ from information authorities reviewed when they declined to pursue criminal charges nearly two years ago.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said his office intends to present the case to a grand jury with the cooperation of the woman, identified as Jane Doe in court filings. The renewed investigation follows a lawsuit accusing seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity of drugging and sexually assaulting her at the fraternity’s Ithaca house in October 2024. No criminal charges have been filed, and allegations in the civil complaint have not been proven in court.
The lawsuit says Doe, then 20, arrived at the Chi Phi house late on Oct. 19, 2024, after drinking earlier in the evening. It alleges that fraternity members gave her additional alcohol and drugs, including a substance described to her as ketamine, before she was sexually assaulted. The complaint alleges the assaults involved several fraternity members and continued for hours. It also cites a Snapchat group conversation that Doe’s attorneys say is important evidence in the case.
Van Houten has said the allegations contained in the new lawsuit are “dramatically different” from the account prosecutors understood from Doe’s original statement to Cornell University Police. According to the district attorney, the 2024 statement did not allege that Doe had unknowingly been drugged, forced to participate in sexual activity or become physically helpless or unconscious. Based on the information available at the time, prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.
Doe’s attorney, Thomas P. Giuffra, disputes the district attorney’s characterization of the earlier investigation. He said authorities failed to conduct adequate follow-up interviews with his client and maintains that investigators were provided with evidence related to the fraternity’s group chat. Van Houten has said his office did not receive an image of the Snapchat conversation that is now included in the lawsuit. He also acknowledged that his office relied on the Cornell police investigation rather than conducting a separate investigation of its own.
The disagreement over what investigators possessed in 2024 is now one of the central questions surrounding the reopened case. Van Houten said prosecutors will examine whether evidence exists today that was not available to his office when it made its original decision. Presenting the matter to a grand jury would allow prosecutors to seek a determination on whether the evidence supports criminal charges. The decision to reopen the investigation does not itself establish that a crime occurred or that any of the accused students committed one.
At least two men named in the lawsuit have publicly disputed allegations against them. An attorney for Scott Kretzschmar said his client never sexually assaulted or touched Doe and said previous investigations did not find him responsible for sexual assault as alleged in the lawsuit. Scott Norris also denied participating in sexual activity or drug use. Norris acknowledged sending a Snapchat message cited in the complaint but said he was not involved in the alleged sexual misconduct. The legal positions of all defendants could not be independently established from publicly available responses.
Cornell has pushed back against claims that it imposed only minor discipline after its internal investigation. The university said its Title IX process lasted several months and included temporary suspensions and other restrictions. A hearing panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days, according to Cornell. The university said the resulting sanctions included expulsions and suspensions, while federal privacy law prevents it from publicly identifying individual disciplinary outcomes. Cornell also said no student was allowed to write an essay as the sole consequence for involvement in the case.
The university’s Xi chapter of Chi Phi was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus. Cornell has said it takes allegations of sexual violence seriously and supports the district attorney’s decision to give the woman an opportunity to have her allegations considered through the criminal justice system. The university also has said it will address the claims against Cornell in greater detail through the civil litigation.
The case comes amid broader concern about sexual assault at Cornell. A university task force reported in March that Cornell’s 2025 Survey of Sexual Assault and Related Misconduct found 35% of undergraduate women and 8% of undergraduate men reported experiencing sexual assault, defined by the survey as nonconsensual sexual contact involving force or incapacitation, during their time at Cornell. The task force recommended changes involving prevention, campus culture, education, communication and institutional accountability.
Prosecutors have not announced criminal charges against any of the seven men accused in Doe’s lawsuit. Van Houten said his office plans to reexamine the evidence and present the case to a Tompkins County grand jury with Doe’s cooperation. The civil lawsuit remains separate from the renewed criminal investigation, and its allegations remain contested.
Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.