Cornell University’s Jane Doe told faculty members that she felt “unsupported and disbelieved” by the Ivy League university’s president, Michael Kotlikoff, NBC reported on Wednesday.
In a letter to Cornell’s faculty senate, Doe provided what she called a secondhand account of a meeting between Kotlikoff and the then-president of her sorority, Tri Delta.
“After the conversation she shared with me, with concern, that President Kotlikoff’s initial response was along the lines of, ‘Why did she wait so long to report it?’” Doe wrote in the letter. “She interpreted his question as an expression of doubt in the veracity of my story.”
The meeting was held months after October 19-20, 2024, when Doe was allegedly raped by seven members of the now-defunct Chi Phi fraternity.
She alerted campus police to the incident on November 8, 2024.
Cornell claims comments were taken out of context
The meeting that Jane Doe is claiming to provide a secondhand account of occurred in January 2025.
In the letter, Doe wrote that her sorority president told her that at least one other faculty member “appeared distressed” at Kotlikoff’s line of questioning, and said that the person believed that “the President’s response was inappropriate.”
Cornell said in a statement that while Kotlikoff did make a similar comment at the meeting, the secondhand account was taken out of context.
“The second-hand account of the question asked by President Kotlikoff in a January 2025 meeting in the letter is incorrect, based on a documented first-hand account,” the statement added. “The question ‘why did it take so long for the assault to be reported’ was directed at bystanders who did not use Cornell’s anonymous tip line, despite ongoing social media activity about the incident in October 2024. He was not questioning Jane Doe’s reporting.”
Cornell's Jane Doe felt the administration didn't believe her
But Jane Doe said in her letter that the comment left her feeling unsupported and disbelieved by President Kotlikoff.
“It diminished my confidence in the administration’s ability to approach my experience with the understanding, sensitivity, and fairness I had hoped for and expected from what had been my dream school.”
This comes ahead of a vote of no confidence in Kotlikoff’s administration.
Doe’s lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, told NBC that the letter she wrote to the faculty senate was for “informational purposes only.”
“Jane Doe thought it important that the faculty senate have this information as it deliberates and considers the resolutions or motions before it,” Giuffra said. “Jane Doe would ask the faculty senate to give her letter whatever weight or credibility it deems appropriate.”