Singer Olivia Rodrigo is standing with the unnamed victim of an alleged gang rape at Cornell as the local district attorney and school remain under scrutiny.
“Shame on Cornell and on every institution who protects rapists and abusers over women,” the “good 4 u” singer, 23, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Saturday, October 3. “I stand with Jane Doe. Her bravery reverberates across the country and the crimes against her will not go unpunished.”
The singer continued, “What she lived through matters, and so does the failure of those who could have intervened but chose not to. She deserves answers, consequences, and lasting change.”
In a civil lawsuit filed on September 16, an unidentified woman — referred to as Jane Doe — claimed she was sexually assaulted at the Chi Phi house on October 19, 2024. After a night of drinking, she alleged she was pressured to snort ketamine, smoke marijuana and drink alcohol before she was gang raped by seven fraternity brothers.
While the incident allegedly started with two fraternity brothers, more men allegedly got involved after advertising there was “free p****” in a Snapchat group chat, using the derogatory term for a vagina.
Doe reported the alleged incident weeks later, and none of the men faced criminal charges. Only two of the seven frat members were reportedly suspended for their involvement in the incident, while the others were ordered to write essays and attend workshops.
Doe eventually dropped out of Cornell.
“[Jane Doe is] not well,” Thomas Giuffra, the attorney who filed the alleged victim’s civil lawsuit, told NBC News reporter Maggie Vespa in an interview shared on Saturday, October 3. “This has upended her life in such a tragic way.”
Giuffra continued at the time, “She comes from a small town. Her dream, from when she was a little girl, was to go to the Cornell [Nolan] Hotel School — this was her desire. She worked very hard — she came from an area where people were not going to Ivy League schools. This was an area where people went local or they didn’t go to school at all. And this was her dream — she went there, she was betrayed by two friends. She went to withdraw, she couldn’t withdraw without costing her parents a lot of money. She had to stay there, and then ultimately she couldn’t take it anymore — and her mother was up there constantly — and she had to leave.”
Amid a flurry of social backlash regarding the alleged gang rape, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul slammed both the Tompkins County district attorney and Cornell police while announcing on Friday, October 2, that she has directed New York Attorney General Letitia James to take over the criminal investigations into the alleged gang rape.
The lawyer representing the alleged victim of a reported gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity is giving an update on his client’s condition amid intense scrutiny over how the university and the local district attorney allegedly failed to properly investigate the incident. “[Jane Doe is] not well,” Thomas Giuffra, the attorney who filed the […]
Michael Kotlikoff, president of the university, broke his silence regarding allegations on Saturday.
“What happened to Jane Doe in 2024 is deeply disturbing and will weigh heavily on our community for years to come,” Kotlikoff, 74, said in a video statement. “My heart aches when I think of what she experienced.”
The Cornell official acknowledged that the case “raises heartbreaking and troubling issues about sexual assault, dehumanization and aspects of party culture, alcohol and drug use.”
“It also raises questions around the investigation conducted after the allegations were reported,” he added.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
