Cornell students hold dining hall sit-in to call for accountability from university in alleged gang rape investigation

Cornell University students held a protest Wednesday over the school's handling of an alleged gang rape at the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024.

Students took part in a dining hall sit-in, saying they want more accountability from the administration. They are staging what they call an economic blackout, urging others not to buy anything on campus.

"Student trust in the administration is really low, and that trust only keeps declining as more details of this case are coming out," senior Madeline Gage said.

Gage said students want an independent judicial system established at Cornell, among other demands.

"Additionally, students are hoping that CUPD, our police department, gets proper training on sexual assault awareness, and then, hopefully, that there would be in-person training about consent for students," she said.

Others are demanding major changes within the school administration.

"I would like to see a resignation from our president," student Kiara Videmantay said. "I would call for an end to Greek life on campus or at least some severe reform before we see it opening again."

Meanwhile, the attorney for Jane Doe, the woman who sued Cornell and seven students alleging the assault, says she has been receiving death threats.

"Somebody called her, made a threat to shoot up her house, shoot her, her mother, her father," attorney Thomas Giuffra said. "She's had regular nasty emails calling her names, threatening her. She had one yesterday with three emojis with Colt 45s on them saying she should be killed and things like that."

A spokesperson for Cornell said University President Michael I. Kotlikoff and other members of the administration are set to meet with the Faculty Senate next week. CBS News New York hasn't heard back from the Board of Trustees, which has the final say on leadership changes.

CBS News has reached out to all seven of the men who were named in Jane Doe's lawsuit. We've heard back from attorneys for two of them, who deny the sexual assault allegations.

No criminal charges have been filed.