Cornell University’s president is accused of showing ‘clinical detachment’ during his first interview after Jane Doe’s gang rape allegations sparked national outrage.
The Ivy League campus has been engulfed in scandal since the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit claiming she was coerced into taking drugs and sexually assaulted by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity at an off-campus house in 2024.
Cornell has since banned all fraternity parties for the rest of the year and hired Sally Yates, a former Obama-appointed justice official who was infamously fired by President Donald Trump, to investigate its response to gang rape allegations.
Meanwhile, the Cornell faculty senate has said it plans to vote on a no-confidence resolution against the school’s administrators, including President Michael Kotlikoff, later this month.
During his first interview since Doe’s bombshell lawsuit, The New York Times accused Kotlikoff of speaking with ‘clinical detachment’ as he apologized to the woman and community.
‘The fact that Jane Doe experienced what she experienced at Cornell is something that I am personally sorry for. And I think this entire campus is sorry that occurred,’ he told the newspaper.
‘I’ve heard enough from the community that there is a loss of trust. People are angry. I understand that anger.’
The seven men, Umar Matthew Ingalls, Jonathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar, have denied the allegations against them.
Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff gave his first interview after Jane Doe’s gang rape allegations
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit claiming she was coerced into taking drugs and sexually assaulted by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity at an off-campus house in 2024
Prosecutors initially decided not to file charges but have since reopened the case, and the school launched a Title IX investigation in the fraternity.
Chi Phi was shut down; two of the men, Ingalls and Newell, were expelled; Lee and Lopes were suspended and have since returned to school; Norris and Kretzschmar faced lesser punishments; and although Sarabia had already graduated, he was barred from campus.
Kotlikoff claimed that his creation of a presidential task force in February 2025 to address sexual assault on campus was a sign of his administration’s seriousness.
‘We don’t set up a presidential task force for minor issues,’ he said, adding that the school’s steps were meant to reassure parents worried about their children on campus.
‘I’ve had a number of conversations with parents. I think this is a difficult conversation, particularly with the public that’s gotten so much different information about what actually went on and aren’t aware of these processes, and the complexity of a Title IX process,’ Kotlikoff said.
‘We take the issue seriously, that we respond, that we heard the concerns, and we’re responding in specific ways that address those concerns.’
Kotlikoff also told The New York Times that the heavy use of ketamine and alcohol by students discovered during the Title IX investigation is not unique to Cornell.
‘I think that this is a problem that relates to 20-year-olds, 21-year-olds leaving home for the first time, coming into an environment where there’s access to alcohol, where there is, unfortunately, in some cases, access to drugs,’ he said.
One of the men allegedly posted to the fraternity’s active-members Snapchat group saying that there was ‘free p***y’ upstairs, referring to Doe, according to the filing, which included an image of the purported chat
All seven of the men have denied the allegations against them. Two of the accused men, Umar Matthew Ingalls and Jonathan Newell, were expelled after the school’s Title IX investigation
The incident has sparked national outrage over the school’s handling of the case
‘And they’re not prepared. And of course they’ve been exposed to social media, pornography, misogyny.
‘This is a challenge for us. We have to respond by building character, judgment, responsibility, care for each other.’
Shortly after Kotlikoff’s interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, he announced a suspension of all parties and social events at Interfraternity Council houses through the end of the 2026-27 academic year, along with a new ‘zero tolerance’ policy that would immediately suspend chapters for violations.
‘These measures will provide time for a thorough review of fraternity life at Cornell to determine whether and how it can safely continue,’ Kotlikoff wrote in a letter to the campus community.
Alongside the party ban, Cornell announced that it will be adding experienced sexual assault investigators to its police force.
Accusations continue to mount over whether the internal investigation into the alleged assault went far enough.
