Jane Doe, the woman who accused several Cornell University frat members of sexually assaulting her in 2024, sent a letter to the school’s Faculty Senate sharing a second-hand account of President Michael Kotlikoff’s response to her allegations ahead of a potential vote of no confidence in his administration.In a Wednesday letter obtained by NBC News, Doe described a meeting between Kotlikoff and the then-president of her sorority, Tri Delta, months after she reported the alleged assault to the university.
Doe wrote that the sorority president subsequently told her that Kotlikoff had allegedly questioned why she waited to report the incident.“After the conversation she shared with me, with concern, that President Kotlikoff’s initial response was along the lines of, ‘Why did she wait so long to report it?’” Doe said in the letter.“She interpreted his question as an expression of doubt in the veracity of my story.”Cornell disputed that characterization on Tuesday, saying in a statement that Kotlikoff’s question during a January 2025 meeting was focused on bystanders who had not reported the allegations, rather than Doe herself.The letter comes amid mounting scrutiny of Cornell’s handling of Doe’s allegations and growing debate among school faculty members over whether to hold a no-confidence vote in the university’s administration.
Earlier this month, Cornell hired former acting U.S.Attorney General Sally Yates to lead that independent review, which will examine the school’s response to Doe’s allegations and broader policies governing sexual misconduct.In a civil lawsuit filed last month, Doe accused seven of the members of the now dismantled Chi Phi fraternity of plying her with drugs and sexually assaulting her at a party in October 2024 and into the early hours of the next morning.
Orazio Petito, one of the named defendants in the lawsuit and the former president of the fraternity, was dropped from the lawsuit after his lawyer said h...