The Sophie Fund wrote to the Cornell University Board of Trustees on October 1 demanding the removal of President Michael I. Kotlikoff and the appointment of a leader who will unequivocally embrace the need for immediate and robust zero-tolerance policies and practices toward terminating the rape culture at Cornell.
Statue of Ezra Cornell, founder of the university, on the Arts Quad of the Ithaca campus
We write to demand the removal of Michael I. Kotlikoff from the Office of President of Cornell University for the university administration’s dereliction of duty in the matter of the gang rape of Cornell student “Jane Doe” in 2024.
It is common knowledge in the Ithaca and Cornell campus communities that Cornell University administrations have tolerated a rape culture for many years. This is amply demonstrated in regular surveys of Cornell students. The Cornell Surveys on Sexual Assault and Related Misconduct, which are required by New York State Education Law Article 129-B, show that overwhelming numbers of female students report having been sexually assaulted on campus. Yet successive Cornell administrations have shown palpable indifference to the rape culture to the point of complicity in it. This has brought shame to our dear Ithaca community and to Cornell itself.
As disappointed as we are by the failures of many individual Cornell officials in handling Jane Doe’s case, ultimately it is a system failure that demands systemic change. Replacing the top leader is the way to begin and signal that change.
Thus, we demand that Kotlikoff be replaced by a leader who will unequivocally embrace the need for and execute immediate and robust zero-tolerance policies and practices toward terminating the rape culture at Cornell.
Kotlikoff has lost our confidence and undoubtedly the confidence of many Ithaca citizens and Cornell students, staff, faculty, and alumni. We also call on that new leader to remove Kotlikoff’s leadership team and replace it with officials who will pursue systemic change at Cornell in all areas of student mental health, well-being, and safety.
The civil lawsuit filed by Jane Doe against Cornell University on September 14 provided ample evidence that she experienced gang rape at the Chi Phi fraternity house on the Cornell campus and duly reported the horrific assault to the Cornell University Police Department. It is clear that the Cornell University Police Department failed to fully and properly investigate and seek prosecution and justice for felony crimes. It is clear that Cornell’s Title IX investigation failed to bring justice for Jane Doe and ensure her safety to remain on campus.
Today, The New York Times publishes stories here and here that raise serious questions about whether Cornell University administrators engaged in a coverup in the case of Jane Doe.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has said in a statement that he declined to bring a prosecution in the Jane Doe case based on the statement from Jane Doe summarized and provided by the Cornell University Police Department.
Van Houten said: “Multiple prosecutors and criminal investigators reviewed Jane Doe’s statement and correctly determined the alleged facts as set forth in the statement do not constitute a crime. This decision was not because the case would have been difficult to prove in court—it was because the facts as set forth in the statement objectively prevent the filing of criminal charges.” [italics in original]
Now, The New York Times reports that the statement provided to the District Attorney “omitted some of the more forceful and definitive language she used. And it was missing her unequivocal statement that she had been raped.”
The “independent review” demanded by Governor Kathy Hochul must investigate why the Cornell University Police Department omitted such an important aspect of Jane Doe’s statement when submitting it to the Tompkins County District Attorney for considering charges.
We agree with the September 29, 2026 statement by Governor Hochul, who is also a Cornell University Board of Trustees Member:
“There are also serious questions about Cornell’s campus culture and its systems for prevention, reporting, and response. That is why I am calling for outside counsel to conduct a transparent, independent review of the university’s response to determine whether Cornell met every obligation to protect its students and pursue justice.”
We also agree with Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo’s September 29, 2026 call for “an accounting of [Cornell’s] protocols to prevent and prosecute crimes of sexual violence and… new standards and practices to keep our community safe.”
We note Jane Doe’s lawsuit, which cited Cornell’s “failure to protect Plaintiff from a known danger; failure to have sufficient policies and procedures in place to prevent sex abuse and assault being committed by any of their students; failure to properly implement policies and procedures to prevent sex abuse and assault; failure to take reasonable measures to ensure that policies and procedures to prevent sex abuse and assault were working; failure [sic] to investigate risks of sexual assault; failure to properly train the employees at their facilities; failed [sic] to have any outside agency test their safety procedures; and failure to train its employees properly to identify signs of sexual abuse and sexual assault.”
We expect from experience that without new leadership the Cornell administration will pay lip service to reform but will fail to follow through on tangible change with transparency and accountability.
For example, The Sophie Fund this week reported on how it repeatedly “warned Cornell University administrators about the need for robust new policies to end the cycle of sexual assault on their campus.”
Nearly 10 years ago, as the parents of a Cornell student who died by suicide in Ithaca, we wrote an April 2017 letter to then-President Martha Pollack asking for a task force to review mental health and related issues such as sexual assault. 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 Cornell Board of Trustees, nearly a decade later, must ask: Why does the university find itself defending a lawsuit, and why do alleged Cornell student perpetrators find themselves facing a new criminal investigation, brought on by a woman who in 2024 at the age of 20 reported being gang raped at a fraternity house on the Cornell campus to the Cornell University Police Department.
Enough is enough.
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