The former Cornell University student who alleged she was gang raped in 2024 at a campus fraternity house said she felt “unsupported and disbelieved” by the school’s president, Michael Kotlikoff, according to a letter she sent earlier this month to the faculty senate.
In her letter, the student, known as Jane Doe, said she wanted to share a “second-hand account” before the faculty senate introduced a resolution of no confidence in Kotlikoff and the university administration.
The letter, obtained by ABC News after it was first obtained by The New York Times, described a conversation Kotlikoff had with the president of Jane Doe’s sorority shortly after Jane Doe reported the alleged assault to campus police.
“President Kotlikoff’s initial response was along the lines of, ‘Why did she wait so long to report it?'” Jane Doe’s letter said, explaining that her sorority sister “interpreted his question as an expression of doubt in the veracity of my story.”
The alleged hourslong assault occurred over the night of Oct. 19 into the morning of Oct. 20, 2024. Jane Doe reported to campus police on Nov. 8, 2024, that she had been raped by a group of men at the Chi Phi fraternity house.
“When the then-Tri Delta President relayed this conversation to me, I felt unsupported and disbelieved by President Kotlikoff,” Jane Doe wrote in her letter. “It diminished my confidence in the administration’s ability to approach my experience with the understanding, sensitivity, and fairness I had hoped for and expected from what had been my dream school.”
A spokesperson for Cornell University disputed how the letter characterized Kotlikoff’s remark.
Chalk messages reading “1300 reports in residence halls” and “No Justice” are written on a sidewalk at the Ag Quad in Ithaca, New York, October 14, 2026.
Matt Burkhartt/Reuters
“The second-hand account of the question asked by President Kotlikoff in a January 2025 meeting in the letter is incorrect, based on a documented first-hand account,” the spokesperson said in a statement provided to ABC News. “The question ‘why did it take so long for the assault to be reported’ was directed at bystanders who did not use Cornell’s anonymous tip line, despite ongoing social media activity about the incident in October 2024. He was not questioning Jane Doe’s reporting.”
In her letter, Jane Doe, who is now 22 and who dropped out of Cornell, said she wanted to share the information for awareness. She did not offer an opinion on how the faculty senate should vote on the resolution of no confidence.
“It is important to me that the Faculty Senate be made aware of this letter so that its members can make an informed choice about how they wish to consider or act upon the information it contains,” Jane Doe wrote.
She has filed a civil suit against the men and the university alleging that she had been drugged and raped. All seven fraternity brothers named in the suit have denied wrongdoing and no criminal charges have been filed in the case.
On Tuesday, a former president of the Chi Phi fraternity was dropped from Jane Doe’s civil suit after he was mistakenly identified as the chapter president at the time of the alleged attack.