Cornell punished some students for sexual assault with extra study and reprimands

Nearly half of Cornell University students found responsible for sexual assault in recent years were punished with extra study programs and written reprimands – but avoided suspension or expulsion, a CNN review of school records found.

That pattern of relatively lax response by Cornell officials now faces national scrutiny after a woman alleged she was gang raped at a fraternity house.

Just two Cornell students were expelled after being found responsible for sexual assault between mid-2020 and mid-2024, according to the most recent data released by the university. In all, Cornell reviewed 51 formal complaints about sexual assault in that time frame and found students responsible in 16 cases.

Those statistics highlight a significant problem of Cornell officials minimizing accounts of abuse, five current and former students who filed sexual misconduct complaints at the university told CNN.

Some of those students say the university found their attackers responsible for the assault – only to let them off the hook with light punishments.

Kacey Lee said she felt “betrayed” by Cornell after the student that school officials found responsible for assaulting her was punished in 2023 with a “reflection paper” and other measures, but not suspension or expulsion. Lee said she wished she hadn’t endured the school’s investigation process: “To know that I went through it all for this illusion of accountability felt even worse.”

Others said the school’s Title IX office, which investigates claims of sexual abuse, ignored significant evidence as part of a flawed process that allowed attackers to evade responsibility – and at times strike again.

“No punishment. No essay. No apology. Allowed to graduate,” said one Cornell alum, who asked not to use her name out of fear of retaliation, describing the result for her alleged attacker after she complained of being sexually assaulted. “It hurts so much.”

In a statement, a Cornell spokesperson said the university takes sexual misconduct allegations “extremely seriously.”

The university “investigates reports through established processes, providing support and resources to those who come forward,” the statement said. The statement noted that the university expanded in-person sexual violence prevention education this year to all first-year students.

Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff acknowledged in a video released last week that the university needs to improve how it handles sexual misconduct in the wake of the new national scrutiny of claims by Jane Doe, the former student who filed a lawsuit last month describing being gang raped at the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024.

“We don’t have all the answers, but we are committed to investigating and finding the answers our community deserves,” Kotlikoff said. “I believe we as an administration and we as a community must do better.”

Universities face a difficult task with internal investigations into sexual assault, said Peter Lake, a Stetson University professor who focuses on higher education law, because accused students often hire lawyers early in contentious cases – and sue if they’re expelled.

“Striking a balance is rather tricky for a lot of institutions, because I think they are being taffy-pulled by competing interests,” Lake said. “When you level the most severe sanctions like long-term suspension and expulsion, you can almost guarantee that people are going to lawyer up.”

And since Cornell and other universities typically don’t publish information about their Title IX investigations, the full details of allegations are usually unclear.

But the rarity of tough punishments at Cornell, even in cases where the school itself found evidence of a sexual assault, points to a larger trend of the university failing to protect students from sexual misconduct, according to students and victim advocates who spoke to CNN.

“Expulsion should be, in my view, the only outcome of a Title IX case where there’s a finding of responsibility,” said Nicole Bedera, a researcher who wrote a book about sexual violence among college students. “The best predictor of a place where sexual violence doesn’t occur is that when it happens, it’s not tolerated.”

A national furor has grown over Jane Doe’s 101-page lawsuit, which alleges a brutal assault at a fraternity house – and a lack of action by campus authorities after she reported being drugged and raped in October 2024. Attorneys for some of the men named in the lawsuit have denied the allegations.

As law enforcement officials evaluated the case at the time, the university began its own parallel process.

According to Cornell’s policy , formal complaints of sexual misconduct are investigated by the university’s office for Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting gender-based discrimination. The cases are then reviewed by a panel of faculty and staff, which can impose punishments ranging from verbal warnings to suspension or expulsion.

Of the 51 formal complaints about sexual assault or attempted sexual assault that were filed over the four academic years starting in mid-2020, the panel found the person accused was not responsible in 15 cases, and the complaint was dismissed or withdrawn in 19 cases, according to the university’s data . In one case, the respondent was found responsible for a lesser offense.

Of the 16 students the panel found responsible for sexual assault, only two were expelled and six were suspended. Seven received other punishments, including written reprimands, disciplinary probation, directed study and no-contact orders. One case is still listed as pending appeal.

It’s not clear how many, if any, of the 16 cases resulted in criminal investigations. Under Cornell’s policy, university officials should inform students who report sexual assault that they have the right to contact law enforcement or to choose not to do so. The university’s Title IX discipline system runs concurrently with any investigations by Cornell’s police department or other law enforcement agencies, the policy says.

According to a guide posted by Cornell’s Office of Civil Rights, directed study involves a requirement to read or watch “relevant materials” and to “discuss those materials and how they apply” to their case. The reading materials can include “an impact letter written by the complainant,” the guide says.

In several other cases in which a sexual assault complaint was withdrawn without a hearing taking place, the respondent was given other sanctions such as writing an “Accountability Reflection Paper” or an “Apology Letter,” the data shows.

The university has not yet published data for the school year starting in fall 2024, when Jane Doe’s alleged assault occurred, or more recent years.

Jennifer Brownell, the executive director of the Advocacy Center of Tompkins County, a nonprofit Cornell refers students to that offers counseling for sexual violence victims, said she was concerned by relatively lax punishments for students found responsible for sexual assault.

“My gut reaction is that’s infuriating,” she said. “Should they be expelled? I don’t know. But should there be harsher punishments? Yes.”

But Lake, the expert in higher education law, noted that the Title IX regulations don’t have sentencing guidelines, leaving it up to universities to decide the punishments for students found responsible.

In Jane Doe’s case, the university expelled two of the seven men she accused of participating in her assault, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times . Two others were suspended and required to take directed study, while one student who had graduated was barred from campus for three years. Two students, including one who was found responsible for entering the room where Doe was allegedly assaulted but not attacking her, were punished with directed study and writing reflection essays.

One of those students was ordered to do a study “focused on the issues of social media use and sexual harassment” and to write “a reflection paper that engages with the specific circumstances” of his case, according to a partially redacted disciplinary record included in court files. (That student’s attorney said he is challenging the Title IX decision.)

A Cornell spokesperson said in a statement that “the university conducted an extensive investigation and adjudication over several months, imposing sanctions based on the findings and circumstances involving each student.”

Some former Cornell students who reported a sexual assault say Jane Doe’s complaints about how her case was handled struck a chord with them.

In Lee’s case, she accused her fellow student of engaging in sex acts without her consent in April 2022, which he denied. Lee described herself as distraught and “mentally stuck” afterward, leaving her skipping meals, struggling to attend class and eventually dropping her minor.

A university panel found the other student responsible for sexual assault after hearing testimony and reviewing evidence, including that Lee called a rape hotline and searched “What to Do if You Were Raped” in the hours after the incident.

Lee asked for the student to be expelled, but instead he was punished with a written reprimand, disciplinary probation, a no-contact order and a directed study that included “a reflection paper,” according to a university record reviewed by CNN. The panel concluded that his “actions caused significant harm but were not taken with malicious intent,” and that “education in affirmative consent and related topics was likely to prevent the respondent from engaging in similar misconduct in the future.”

Lee said when she read the Cornell panel’s decision, it felt like her alleged assailant “just got an extra homework assignment.”

“In a way, they were telling me it just wasn’t bad enough,” she said. “Why is my pain only worth an essay?”

Other former Cornell students also say the school’s Title IX process failed them.

The alum who asked not to be named alleged more than five years ago that she was assaulted by a male classmate – a student who had already been the subject of another Title IX complaint less than a year earlier.

The student who filed that first complaint, who also spoke to CNN under the condition of anonymity, said he had assaulted her multiple times, including once so violently that she bled for days. She said she was granted a no-contact order, she didn’t hear about any further investigation, and no disciplinary action was taken.

When the second student complained about the same classmate, she said she provided a witness statement.

The student who made the second complaint said a Title IX panel found him not responsible. She said she developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the assault, and said the lack of transparency and length of the investigation added to her anxiety and depression.

“This case has disrupted my school, work, and personal life to enormous degrees,” she wrote in an email to the Title IX coordinator, which CNN reviewed, noting that she was “ashamed to be a Cornell University alumni.”

Her note added that “the university goes against its own policy of taking sexual assault very seriously, and this outcome could dissuade others from coming forward.”

The Title IX coordinator responded by thanking her for participating in the process, apologizing for “communication issues,” and promising to “consider all the input you have provided,” in an emailed response reviewed by CNN.

Another current student at Cornell, who also asked not to be named, told CNN that in the summer of 2026 she reported to the Title IX office an incident in which she was sexually harassed during a one-on-one meeting with a staff member.

She still hasn’t heard whether an investigation has been opened or whether the staff member has faced any consequences.

“It would have been nice to have more transparency to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” she said, adding she is also worried that her scholarship could be in jeopardy because she has been avoiding required events where that staff member is present.

She said she wasn’t surprised by Jane Doe’s allegations.

“It sounded typical of what would happen at Cornell, especially with the university being more concerned with covering up than helping the victim,” she said.

Jane Wang, a Cornell student who reported being sexually assaulted to the university, told CNN that she eventually withdrew her complaint because she felt that Cornell officials involved in the Title IX process weren’t responding in a timely manner or taking her allegations seriously.

“I felt like it was just treated with a complete lack of urgency, lack of responsiveness,” Wang said. The failures in the university’s system mean that “so many other victims and survivors are discouraged from truly seeking out justice within this process,” Wang said.

As Cornell grapples with Jane Doe’s case, the school has also struggled for years with serious problems at its fraternities – and with improving the way the school deals with sexual violence.

Dozens of times over the last two decades, fraternities at Cornell have been temporarily suspended or faced other disciplinary action over hazing and other rules violations, according to university records .

In 2022, the university’s Interfraternity Council temporarily suspended all fraternity parties and social events after allegations that at least four students were drugged and another was sexually assaulted at fraternity houses over the span of about a month.

The fraternity where Jane Doe was allegedly assaulted, Chi Phi, had not been sanctioned over sexual misconduct in recent years. But just a day before the alleged gang rape, campus police reported a drug-related arrest at the house, a university crime log shows.

Thomas Giuffra, Jane Doe’s attorney, told CNN that the arrest involved a drug overdose, and argued that Cornell had put his client in danger because of the university’s “failure to shut the frat down” after the incident.

If the university had responded adequately to that arrest, “there would not have been a sanctioned party for her to go to,” Giuffra said.

Chi Phi’s Cornell chapter was shut down in 2024 in the wake of Jane Doe’s complaint.

Cornell officials have acknowledged a long-standing need to better address sexual violence on campus – including in a March report from a university task force finding that decades of initiatives had failed to significantly reduce attacks. The report noted that in 2025, more than one in three undergraduate women reported experiencing sexual assault during their time at Cornell – an increase from previous years. More than 26,000 students attend Cornell.

“Despite a long history of actions to address sexual assault … rates of sexual assault remain persistently high,” the report concluded.

Carolin Guentert, a lawyer who represents sexual assault survivors, said the Jane Doe case had exposed “huge flaws” in how some universities handle the Title IX process. “I don’t think this is really serving survivors of sexual violence,” she said.

Instead of focusing only on accountability for past violations, Guentert said, universities like Cornell should invest more strongly in sexual assault prevention. “By the time it gets to a Title IX process like this, it’s too late. Something terrible has already happened,” Guentert said.

Alhassan Bangura, a Cornell graduate who helped author a 2023 student government resolution demanding the administration “take overdue action” to address sexual assault, said he was shocked by the Jane Doe case – but not surprised.

After sexual assaults are reported, “we’re receiving text after text, and we hear that the university is looking into it, but the same thing is happening year after year,” Bangura said. “Clearly something more tangible has to change.”

Another author of the resolution, Lucia Balestrieri, said assigning essays to students for sexual assault is “barely a punishment – it’s a slap on the wrist if anything.”

“Outside of Cornell’s campus, there would be real consequences,” she said. “Because Cornell doesn’t want a bad rap, you can get away with something.”

CNN’s Audrey Ash, Melanie Hicken and Jeff Winter contributed to this report.

Help is available : For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 at online.rainn.org .

CNN 对学校记录的审查发现，近年来康奈尔大学近一半被认定犯有性侵犯罪的学生受到了额外的学习项目和书面警告的惩罚，但避免了停学或开除。

康奈尔大学官员此前相对宽松的应对方式，如今正面临全国的审视，此前一名女子声称自己在兄弟会宿舍遭到轮奸。

根据康奈尔大学最新公布的数据，在2020年中期至2024年中期期间，仅有两名康奈尔学生因性侵罪被开除。在此期间，康奈尔大学共审查了51起正式的性侵投诉，并认定其中16起案件涉及学生。

五名曾在康奈尔大学提出性骚扰投诉的现任和前任学生告诉 CNN，这些统计数据凸显了康奈尔大学官员淡化虐待事件的一个重大问题。

部分学生表示，学校虽然找到了袭击者，但却只对他们处以轻微的惩罚。

凯西·李表示，康奈尔大学让她感到“背叛”。校方认定袭击她的学生在2023年仅受到“反思报告”和其他处罚，而没有被停学或开除。李说，她后悔自己经历了学校的调查程序：“想到我经历的一切最终只是换来这种虚假的问责，感觉更糟。”

其他人则表示，学校的第九条办公室（负责调查性虐待指控）忽视了大量证据，这是一个有缺陷的程序，使得施虐者得以逃避责任，有时甚至会再次作案。

“没有惩罚，不用写论文，不用道歉，还能毕业，”一位康奈尔大学的校友说道。她因担心遭到报复而要求匿名。她描述了自己投诉性侵后，施暴者得到的待遇。“这太让人痛苦了。”

康奈尔大学发言人在一份声明中表示，该大学“极其重视”性行为不端指控。

声明称，该大学“会按照既定程序调查举报，并为挺身而出者提供支持和资源”。声明还指出，今年该大学已将性暴力预防教育的线下课程扩展到所有一年级新生。

康奈尔大学校长迈克尔·科特利科夫在上周发布的一段视频中承认，在简·多伊（Jane Doe）的指控引发全国关注之后，该大学需要改进其处理性行为不端的方式。简·多伊是一名学生，上个月提起诉讼，描述了她在2024年于Chi Phi兄弟会会所遭到轮奸的经历。

科特利科夫说：“我们并非无所不知，但我们致力于调查并找到我们社区应得的答案。我相信，作为政府，作为社区，我们都必须做得更好。”

斯泰森大学教授彼得·莱克专注于高等教育法，他表示，大学在对性侵犯进行内部调查时面临着一项艰巨的任务，因为被指控的学生往往会在有争议的案件早期就聘请律师——如果他们被开除，还会提起诉讼。

“对很多机构来说，找到平衡点相当棘手，因为我认为它们正被各种相互冲突的利益牵着鼻子走，”莱克说。“当你采取最严厉的制裁措施，比如长期停学和开除时，几乎可以肯定人们会寻求律师的帮助。”

由于康奈尔大学和其他大学通常不会公布有关其第九条修正案调查的信息，因此指控的全部细节通常不清楚。

但据接受 CNN 采访的学生和受害者权益倡导者称，即使在学校自己发现性侵犯证据的情况下，康奈尔大学也很少对性侵犯者进行严厉惩罚，这表明该大学在保护学生免受性骚扰方面存在更大的不足。

“在我看来，如果第九条修正案案件认定当事人负有责任，那么开除应该是唯一的处理结果，”妮可·贝德拉说道，她是一位研究员，曾撰写过一本关于大学生性暴力的书籍。“衡量一个地方是否不会发生性暴力的最佳指标，就是一旦发生，就绝不容忍。”

简·多伊 (Jane Doe) 提交了一份长达 101 页的诉讼书，指控她在兄弟会宿舍遭到残酷袭击，并称在她于 2024 年 10 月报案称自己被下药和强奸后，校方并未采取任何行动。这份诉讼书引发了全国范围的强烈愤慨。诉讼书中提到的一些男子的律师否认了这些指控。

在执法官员评估案件的同时，大学也启动了自己的平行调查程序。

根据康奈尔大学的政策，所有正式的性骚扰投诉均由大学的第九条修正案办公室进行调查。第九条修正案是联邦民权法，禁止基于性别的歧视。案件随后由一个由教职员工组成的委员会进行审查，该委员会可以施加从口头警告到停学或开除等不同程度的处罚。

根据大学的数据，在2020年中期开始的四个学年中，共收到51起关于性侵犯或性侵犯未遂的正式投诉。其中，调查小组认定15起案件中被指控者无罪，19起案件的投诉被驳回或撤回。另有一起案件中，被告被认定犯有较轻的罪行。

在被调查组认定对性侵事件负有责任的16名学生中，只有2人被开除，6人被停学。7人受到其他处罚，包括书面警告、留校察看、强制学习和禁止接触令。另有一宗案件仍在上诉中。

目前尚不清楚这16起案件中有多少起（如果有的话）最终进入了刑事调查程序。根据康奈尔大学的政策，校方应告知举报性侵犯的学生，他们有权联系执法部门，也可以选择不这样做。该政策还指出，大学的第九条修正案纪律处分制度与康奈尔大学警察局或其他执法机构的任何调查同时进行。

根据康奈尔大学民权办公室发布的一份指南，指导性学习要求学生阅读或观看“相关材料”，并“讨论这些材料及其与案件的关联性”。指南指出，阅读材料可以包括“投诉人撰写的影响信”。

数据显示，在其他几起性侵犯投诉被撤回而未举行听证会的案件中，被告人受到了其他制裁，例如撰写“问责反思文件”或“道歉信”。

该大学尚未公布 2024 年秋季学年开始的学年（据称简·多伊遭受袭击的年份）或更近几年的数据。

汤普金斯县倡导中心执行主任詹妮弗·布朗内尔表示，她对康奈尔大学推荐学生前往的这家非营利组织（该组织为性暴力受害者提供咨询）的处罚相对宽松感到担忧。

“我的第一反应是这太令人愤怒了，”她说。“他们应该被开除吗？我不知道。但应该有更严厉的惩罚吗？是的。”

但高等教育法律专家莱克指出，第九条修正案的规定没有量刑指南，而是由大学自行决定对被认定负有责任的学生的处罚。

据《纽约时报》查阅的文件显示，在简·多伊的案件中，她指控参与袭击她的七名男子中有两人被大学开除。另有两人被停学并被要求进行定向学习，而一名已毕业的学生则被禁止进入校园三年。还有两名学生，其中一人被认定进入了据称多伊遭到袭击的房间，但并未对她实施袭击，他们被处以定向学习和撰写反思文章的惩罚。

根据法庭文件中一份部分内容被涂黑的纪律处分记录，其中一名学生被责令进行一项“以社交媒体使用和性骚扰问题为重点”的研究，并撰写一篇“反思论文，探讨其案件的具体情况”。（该学生的律师表示，他正在对第九条修正案的决定提出质疑。）

康奈尔大学发言人在一份声明中表示，“该大学进行了数月的广泛调查和裁决，并根据调查结果和每位学生的具体情况施加了制裁。”

一些曾举报性侵犯的康奈尔大学前学生表示，简·多伊对案件处理方式的抱怨引起了他们的共鸣。

李女士指控她的同学在2022年4月未经她同意与其发生性行为，但该同学否认了这一指控。李女士形容事后她精神崩溃，“心神不宁”，导致她无法正常吃饭，难以上课，最终放弃了辅修专业。

大学调查小组在听取证词并审查证据后，认定另一名学生应对性侵犯负责，证据包括李在事发后几个小时内拨打了强奸热线并搜索了“如果你被强奸了该怎么办”。

李要求开除这名学生，但据CNN查阅的大学记录显示，他最终只受到书面警告、留校察看、禁止接触令以及一项包括“反思论文”的定向学习的处罚。委员会的结论是，他的“行为造成了重大伤害，但并非出于恶意”，并且“关于积极同意及相关主题的教育很可能防止被告将来再次发生类似的不当行为”。

李女士说，当她读到康奈尔大学小组的决定时，感觉就像是她指控的施暴者“又多了一份家庭作业”。

“某种程度上，他们是在告诉我，我的痛苦还不够严重，”她说。“为什么我的痛苦只值写一篇文章？”

其他康奈尔大学的前学生也表示，学校的第九条修正案程序让他们失望了。

这位不愿透露姓名的校友五年前声称，她遭到一名男同学的性侵犯——而这名学生在不到一年前就已经是另一起违反第九条修正案的投诉的对象。

最初提出投诉的那位学生（她也要求匿名接受CNN采访）表示，他曾多次殴打她，其中一次下手极其严重，导致她流血数日。她说，她获得了禁止接触令，但没有听说任何进一步的调查，也没有受到任何纪律处分。

当第二名学生投诉同一名同学时，她说她提供了证人证词。

提出第二起投诉的学生称，第九条修正案小组认定他不负有责任。她说，由于这次性侵事件，她患上了创伤后应激障碍，并表示调查缺乏透明度且耗时过长加剧了她的焦虑和抑郁。

“这起案件极大地扰乱了我的学习、工作和个人生活，”她在给第九条协调员的电子邮件中写道（CNN审阅了这封邮件），并指出她“为自己是康奈尔大学的校友而感到羞耻”。

她的笔记还补充道，“这所大学违背了其自身严肃对待性侵犯的政策，而这一结果可能会阻碍其他人站出来。”

第九条协调员在一封发给 CNN 的电子邮件回复中，感谢她参与这一过程，并为“沟通问题”​​表示歉意，同时承诺“会考虑您提供的所有意见”。

另一位康奈尔大学的在校学生（同样要求匿名）告诉 CNN，2026 年夏天，她向第九条办公室报告了一起事件，当时她在与一名工作人员的单独会面中遭到性骚扰。

她至今仍未得知是否已展开调查，也未得知该工作人员是否受到任何处分。

“如果能更透明一些，确保这种事不再发生就好了，”她说。她还补充说，她担心自己的奖学金可能会受到影响，因为她一直在避免参加有那位工作人员在场的必修活动。

她说，她对简·多伊的指控并不感到惊讶。

“这听起来很像是康奈尔大学会发生的事情，尤其是学校更关心的是掩盖真相而不是帮助受害者，”她说。

康奈尔大学学生简·王曾向学校举报自己遭到性侵犯，她告诉 CNN，她最终撤回了投诉，因为她觉得参与第九条修正案程序的康奈尔大学官员没有及时回应，也没有认真对待她的指控。

王女士说：“我觉得校方对此事完全不重视，反应迟钝。” 她还表示，大学系统的失职导致“许多其他受害者和幸存者对寻求正义望而却步”。

在康奈尔大学努力处理简·多伊案件的同时，该校多年来也一直在努力解决兄弟会存在的严重问题，并努力改进学校处理性暴力的方式。

根据大学记录，在过去的二十年里，康奈尔大学的兄弟会曾数十次因欺凌和其他违反校规的行为而被暂时停权或面临其他纪律处分。

2022 年，在约一个月的时间里，至少有四名学生在兄弟会会所被下药，另一名学生遭到性侵犯，之后该大学的兄弟会理事会暂时中止了所有兄弟会的聚会和社交活动。

据称简·多伊遭到性侵的兄弟会Chi Phi近年来并未因性行为不端受到处罚。但大学犯罪记录显示，就在这起涉嫌轮奸案发生的前一天，校警报告称该兄弟会会所发生了一起与毒品相关的逮捕事件。

简·多伊的律师托马斯·吉弗拉告诉 CNN，逮捕行动涉及吸毒过量，并辩称康奈尔大学在事件发生后“未能关闭兄弟会”，使他的委托人处于危险之中。

吉弗拉说，如果大学对那次逮捕事件做出了适当的回应，“就不会有官方认可的聚会让她去参加了”。

在 Jane Doe 的投诉之后，Chi Phi 的康奈尔分会在 2024 年被关闭。

康奈尔大学官员承认，长期以来亟需更好地解决校园性暴力问题——包括该校一个工作组在3月份发布的一份报告中指出，数十年来采取的各项举措未能显著减少性侵犯事件。该报告指出，到2025年，超过三分之一的本科女生报告称在康奈尔大学就读期间曾遭受性侵犯——这一比例较往年有所上升。康奈尔大学共有超过26,000名学生。

报告总结道：“尽管长期以来采取了多项措施来解决性侵犯问题……但性侵犯发生率仍然居高不下。”

代理性侵幸存者的律师卡罗琳·根特尔表示，“简·多伊”案暴露了一些大学在处理第九条修正案程序方面存在的“巨大缺陷”。她说：“我认为这并没有真正为性暴力幸存者服务。”

根特表示，康奈尔大学等高校不应只关注追究过去违规行为的责任，而应加大对性侵预防的投入。“等到启动第九条修正案程序的时候，已经太晚了。可怕的事情已经发生了。”根特说道。

康奈尔大学毕业生阿尔哈桑·班古拉曾参与起草 2023 年学生会决议，要求校方“采取迟来的行动”来解决性侵犯问题。他表示，他对简·多伊案感到震惊，但并不意外。

邦古拉说：“性侵事件发生后，我们不断收到短信，也听说学校正在调查，但同样的事情年复一年地发生。显然，必须做出更切实的改变。”

该决议的另一位作者露西亚·巴莱斯特里表示，要求性侵犯学生写论文“根本算不上惩罚——充其量只是轻描淡写地警告一下”。

“在康奈尔大学校园外，你会面临真正的后果，”她说。“因为康奈尔大学不想名声不好，所以你可以逃脱惩罚。”

CNN的奥黛丽·阿什、梅兰妮·希肯和杰夫·温特对本报道亦有贡献。

可以获得帮助：在美国，如需帮助，请拨打全国性侵犯热线 1-800-656-4673 或访问 online.rainn.org 进行 24/7 全天候聊天。