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More than 35% of female undergraduates surveyed at Cornell University report non-consensual sexual contact with physical force, threats of force or incapacity, according to a survey last year, a figure that increased from 23% in 2023.
Overall, the survey found that 15% of all respondents reported such experiences compared to approximately 11% in the 2021 and 2023 surveys.
Cornell noted in its survey that a total of 6,000 students received email invitations to participate and only 926 responded, resulting in a 15% response rate, with 519 of those who responded identifying as women. According to the report, the response rate for 2025 was lower than in previous years.
The findings are getting renewed attention after the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office said it is reopening a criminal investigation into an alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell’s fraternity house.
Eight universities that surveyed their students about non-consensual sexual contacts, using the Higher Education Sexual Misconduct and Awareness Survey in 2024, showed rates lower than 30%.
In that survey, Washington University in St. Georgetown University reported 25.3% on the same topic in the same survey. Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania, which reported rates of 14.4% and 16.7%, also count for non-consensual “penetration or sexual touching.”
Under state law, Cornell is required to conduct a campus sexual violence survey every two years. In 2017, the school developed the survey of sexual assault and related misconduct and has administered it every two years since 2019.
In Cornell’s survey, alcohol was involved in many of the reported incidents, while the use of other recreational drugs was less common. Among the undergraduate female respondents, most reported that the incidents took place in residence halls, fraternity chapter houses or annexes and off-campus houses.
Studies have shown that incidents of sexual violence often occur on college campuses during the first two months of the school year, a period referred to as the “red zone” when students go to parties and other events. According to the American Psychological Association, citing a 2008 study, researchers found that 50% of campus sexual assaults occur during the red zone and affect new students.
In a civil lawsuit filed earlier this month, an unidentified woman alleged that on Oct. 19, 2024, members of the Chi Phi fraternity sexually assaulted her for hours and pressured her to take ketamine. The woman also said that one member sent a message to encourage others to participate in the attack.
The fraternity chapter was banned from campus after the alleged attack, but no one was criminally charged.
“While we cannot discuss the specific allegations during the retirement process, we take this matter seriously,” Chi Phi National Fraternity said in a statement on September 18. “Our responsibility is to approach this with care for those affected and respect for a fair legal process.”
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said the woman’s lawsuit prompted him to reopen the criminal case. The case will be presented to a grand jury to determine whether to issue criminal charges against the seven fraternity members named in the suit.
The suit said some of the affected fraternity members were able to “reduce their behavior” by writing essays to the university.
In an earlier statement, Cornell said it launched a Title IX investigation that resulted in “a range of sanctions that included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell. None of the accused individuals were offered the opportunity to write essays as the only consequence of their involvement.
“Any suggestion that the university has not imposed consequential penalties on those involved is false,” the statement said.
The trial sparked intense anger over the handling of the initial sexual assault case in 2024. According to Van Houten, the woman described in a statement “her participation in drug use and sexual behavior as voluntary, deliberate and consensual.”
The woman’s lawyer, Thomas P. Giuffra, said she was “traumatized” and “numb” in the days after the attack and was “unable to function or accept the horror of what happened.”
In a written statement, the woman said she wants to “recover from this trauma, but it is extremely difficult.”
“It affects every aspect of my life,” she said in the statement. “It will haunt me and be a part of me the rest of my life.”
The lawyer for one of the men accused in the complaint of sexual assault, Scott Kretzschmar, denied that he harmed the woman in any way, saying that the lawsuit was “not only intentionally dishonest, but morally repugnant.”
“He did nothing wrong except being irresponsible and immature and inappropriate and ugly in those Snapchats,” the attorney, Jeremy Saland, said Wednesday. “But as for a crime, he was not involved in a crime, nor was he aware of one, because if he was, he would have reported himself.”
Another of the fraternity brothers, Gillio Lopes, who is accused in the trial of sexual assault, also denied this accusation. “The public narrative now being advanced is incomplete and, in important respects, inconsistent with the record developed in the Cornell trial, including many of Jane Doe’s own statements,” said her attorney Andrew Miltenberg.
Miltenberg said that during the first investigation dozens of people were interviewed, there were several days of hearings and testimony, and an investigative report.
“It is these statements, contemporaneous communications, and other evidence that provide important context missing from the current public account. These discrepancies, and the evidence bearing on them, will greatly compromise Jane Doe’s narrative,” he said in a statement.
The attorney for one of the other men did not respond to a request for comment. It is not clear whether the other lawyers have been obtained.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in touch with your local rape crisis center. You can also access RAINN’s online chat service at rainn.org/get-help.
