The Sophie Fund gave a presentation to members of New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s staff on October 7 on its experiences advocating for student mental health reforms at Cornell University including the need for zero-tolerance measures toward ending the high prevalence of sexual assault on the Ithaca campus.
In Executive Order 64 on October 1, Hochul directed Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the offenses alleged in a civil suit against seven Cornell students, Cornell University, and other parties by the plaintiff known as “Jane Doe.” She also demanded that Cornell commission outside counsel to undertake an independent review of how the university handled Jane Doe’s allegation that in 2024 she was gang raped at the Chi Phi fraternity house on campus.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul
Here is the text of The Sophie Fund’s presentation, delivered via Zoom by Co-Founder Scott MacLeod:
In 2016, our daughter Sophie, a Cornell senior on a mental health leave of absence from Cornell, took her own life while waiting to be re-admitted to the university.
Thereafter, my wife Susan and I established The Sophie Fund as a nonprofit advocacy organization to campaign for improved mental health support for young people in the greater Ithaca community including its college campuses.
I am also a current member of the New York State Suicide Prevention Council within the Office of Mental Health. OMH presented The Sophie Fund with its Excellence in Suicide Prevention Award in 2018.
By the way, professionally I was a TIME Magazine foreign correspondent for 25 years.
Thank you for this opportunity to share experiences and perspectives.
I’d like to share our experience that I think sheds light on the institutional indifference that provides some valuable context for the Jane Doe case.
And, from our perspective, how Cornell responded to the Jane Doe allegations—and to the furor that it is now causing—doesn’t instill confidence that much will change at Cornell.
For the past 10 years, The Sophie Fund has repeatedly urged the Cornell administration to reform its policies for student mental health, suicide prevention, and sexual assault prevention.
We have specifically and repeatedly warned Cornell administrators about the need for robust new policies to end the cycle of sexual assault on their campus.
Unfortunately, what we have experienced is foot dragging on promises of systemic change and a failure of accountability on the part of Cornell’s leaders.
Here’s the most palpable example of what we experienced.
In 2018, then Cornell President Martha E. Pollack commissioned a task force to review student mental health. We had led a campaign for a task force that was joined by students. She only agreed after foot dragging and gaslighting for a year and a half.
In our April 2017 letter to Pollack asking for the task force, we noted:
—“[Cornell’s] failure to develop a policy and strategy that addresses the disturbing mental health-related problem of sexual violence against Cornell students and provides effective support for victims of sexual violence.”
—“A lack of institutional accountability for Cornell’s mental health policies, programs, and practices.”
—“An institutional mindset reflecting complacency and defensiveness that appears to prioritize Cornell’s public image over the welfare of students struggling with mental disorders.”
—“A system of accountability would include a zero-tolerance program with robust measures to fight against rape and sexual violence, and hazing, and equally robust legal and psychological support services for victims.”
—“31.6 percent—nearly 1 in 3—reported being victims of rape or sexual battery during their years in college; 9.8 percent of undergraduate female students participating in a recent campus climate survey reported having been the victims of rape or attempted rape since enrolling at Cornell.”
The Mental Health Review task force report Pollack finally commissioned was good. It was led by Dr. Michael Hogan, a former New York State Commissioner of Mental Health and a widely respected national leader in mental health and suicide prevention.
Initially, Pollack’s team set up what they called the “Executive Accountability Committee” to review and implement Hogan’s recommendations. Her administration promised to regularly update the Cornell community on the progress. The Sophie Fund commended these steps at the time.
After a couple years of no clear action, Pollack’s administration abolished the Executive Accountability Committee. It also failed to fill senior healthcare related vacancies that were critical to implementing the mental health recommendations.
For example, the Cornell administration left vacant for two and a half years the position of Assistant Vice President for Student Health and Well-being.
These are not the actions of a university that is intent on protecting its students’ mental health and safety.
After experiencing frustration after being told over and over that a full accounting of the recommendations was still in the works, we wrote to President Michael I. Kotlikoff five times during the course of 2025.
We implored him to issue a report on what the Cornell administration had done with the task force’s 130 recommendations. After all, they had promised to do so.
Obviously—and a prestigious research institution like Cornell knows this very well—it was important that Cornell identify any changes that it had made and evaluate their effectiveness, as well as explain why it had not yet implemented any recommendations. True quality improvement is ongoing work.
We wrote: “Transparently fulfilling a commitment to hold itself accountable will enhance confidence and respect in how Cornell is supporting its students’ well-being and acting as a responsible and valued part of the greater community.”
Remember, by 2025 the students who had campaigned for a task force had long ago graduated. New student leaders on the campus didn’t even know there had been a task force.
After a summer of back-and-forth exchanges, Kotlikoff refused our request to inform the Cornell and Ithaca communities what Cornell had done with the recommendations. Cornell had moved on, he said.
A few more recent signs that suggest to us that the Cornell administration has not learned the lesson of accountability.
Kotlikoff issued a statement last Saturday, and Board Chair Smalling issued one yesterday. They both spoke of Cornell striving to be a national leader in sexual assault prevention.
But in the wake of this tremendously troubling Jane Doe case, with the fury of the campus and the nation directed at the Cornell administration, neither mentioned a single change of personnel or policy or practice that would take place immediately.
Finally, the allegations of gang rape in October 2024 led Kotlikoff to establish a Presidential Task Force on Sexual Assault in February 2025. He said it would deliver a report in the summer of 2025. The report came out only in March 2026.
People following this are not too impressed with the task force’s recommendations. And, apparently, neither is the Cornell Board of Trustees. In engaging King & Spalding, the Board tasked its team with reviewing “how the University prevents and responds to sexual harassment, sexual assault, and related misconduct on campus.”
Why Kotlikoff’s presidential task force did not do that is an important question. I believe the answer is that Cornell leadership is intent on downplaying the problem. The task force was for show.
Governor Hochul was on to something when she stated, “No institution gets to protect its reputation at the expense of a young person seeking justice.”
I know from discussions with many leaders and stakeholders and parents in Ithaca over the last two weeks that there is great anger and distress among local citizens who are not part of the Cornell campus. The persistence of sexual assault involving Cornellians has always impacted the wider Ithaca and Tompkins County communities.
Our medical and emergency services, behavioral health providers, and sexual assault advocates are directly involved in supporting Cornell students who experience sexual assault or are affected by it in other ways. Members of our community including our children are constantly alerted to incidents of sexual misconduct related to the Cornell campus.
We very much doubt that the Cornell administration would have reviewed its handling of the Jane Doe allegations on its own—if Governor Hochul had not demanded that they do so.
No matter what the new investigations bring about, we fear from frustrating experience that Cornell will pay lip service to reform and fail to follow through on systemic change with transparency and accountability as the Governor is demanding.
Students will move on. Attention will move on.
We deeply appreciate Governor Hochul’s intervention and her overall championing of health and safety for our young people throughout New York State. We pray that her leadership and influence will be a critical factor in ending the rape culture on the Cornell campus.
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