Cornell's president said he knew in November 2024 about the Chi Phi report and did not follow up.

An interview is the president's account of what he knew and what he did not ask. It is not a finding about what happened at the Chi Phi house, and it is not a criminal charge. Kotlikoff said he is sorry, that he understands the anger, and that he is not resigning. The seven men named in the civil lawsuit have denied wrongdoing. None of them has been charged. Oct. 29 is the date a judge hears whether James stays on the investigation.

The Guardian reported Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, that Cornell President Michael I. Kotlikoff acknowledged, in his first interview since a former student sued, that he knew in November 2024 a student had reported being sexually assaulted and that he did not follow up with the woman identified in court papers as Jane Doe. The New York Times, in the interview the Guardian was describing, reported he said he learned shortly after she came forward that a student had reported being gang-raped at a fraternity party. He told the Times he did not follow up with her in the months after that, and he did not seek to learn whether any of the accused men had been punished. He said he did not know she had dropped out until she filed the lawsuit last month under the name Jane Doe. The Times reported the interview ran about 90 minutes and that Anne Smalling, chair of Cornell's board of trustees, sat in on it.

"The fact that Jane Doe experienced what she experienced at Cornell is something that I am personally sorry for," Kotlikoff said, in the quote both the Times and the Guardian published. "And I think this entire campus is sorry that occurred." He also said, "I've heard enough from the community that there is a loss of trust," and, "People are angry. I understand that anger." The Times reported he indicated he would not resign. He pointed to a presidential task force he created in February 2025 and said, "We don't set up a presidential task force for minor issues." He told the Times he and other officials did not have a full picture of the allegations and the investigation until earlier this month, when the Times published articles drawn from the university's 2025 Title IX file. He said he had not asked for the results at the time because he wanted the inquiry to stay independent and because of student privacy. He also said he was not told when the Tompkins County district attorney declined to bring charges, and that in hindsight he should have been alerted when Jane Doe withdrew. Title IX lawyer Scott Schneider told the Times that, generally, a university president can be given a completed Title IX file when reviewing it serves a legitimate institutional purpose, and that civil-rights law and student-privacy law do not bar that access. That is a lawyer's view of what a president may read. It is not a ruling that Kotlikoff had to.

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 16, accuses seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity of sexually assaulting Jane Doe at a party at their house in October 2024, the Times reported. The Guardian reported that all of the men named in the suit have denied wrongdoing and that none has been criminally charged. The Times reported that a university investigation expelled two of the men, suspended two, and barred from campus a fifth who had already graduated, with lighter punishments for the rest. The Guardian, citing records the Times obtained, reported those lighter punishments included no-contact orders and orders to write reflection papers. Campus sanctions are a school result. The Times reported the Tompkins County district attorney declined charges and later said the office would reopen the investigation, and that Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James special prosecutor. Los Angeles Magazine reported that Acting Supreme Court Justice James R. Farrell set oral arguments for Thursday, Oct. 29, at 2 p.m. in Monticello on the Article 78 petition Gillio Lopes filed against James and Hochul. That hearing is about the appointment. It is not a charge.

The Times and the Guardian both reported that after the interview, Kotlikoff announced Cornell would suspend parties at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year and add sexual-assault investigators to work with campus police. That announcement is a separate campus directive. The Times reported the university named former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates last week to lead an independent review. The Guardian reported a special committee of the Board of Trustees said it had retained Yates for a review of how Cornell prevents and responds to sexual harassment, sexual assault, and related misconduct. The Times and the Guardian reported the faculty senate is expected to hold a vote of no confidence in the president later this month. A scheduled debate is not a vote that has been taken. The Times also reported that Cornell admissions officials emailed high school counselors after the interview and wrote, "We know that some of you may have mixed feelings about recommending Cornell to students now or in the future." An email to counselors is the university talking to the people who send it students. It does not decide the criminal investigation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.