Cornell student groups to protest university’s handling of alleged gang rape

Cornell University student groups are planning a campus protest on Monday to demand changes following allegations that a former student was gang raped at a fraternity house in 2024.

Twenty student organisations are expected to participate in the ‘Justice for Survivors’ protest at Ho Plaza, according to the Cornell Daily Sun.

Students for a Democratic Cornell and other organisations said in an Instagram post that they want to “hold our university responsible” and “demand change.”

“The Cornell Administration upholds a system that allows rape culture to go unpunished,” the post reads.

Organisers are demanding several changes, including the expulsion or degree revocation of “all perpetrators complicit in the gang rape of Jane Doe,” mandatory sexual assault training and an external investigation into Cornell’s handling of the case.

The protest follows a lawsuit filed by a former Cornell student identified as Jane Doe, who alleges she was drugged and gang raped by members of the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024.

The allegations have prompted renewed scrutiny of Cornell’s response and multiple investigations.

“We won’t be silenced anymore. Our university needs to start protecting us, like they should’ve with Jane Doe and all other survivors on campus,” the organisers said, according to CNN.

Cornell’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors has also urged faculty and other community members to attend Monday’s protest.