Cornell 7 Jane Doe drops case against man she mis-IDd as fraternity president

The “Cornell 7” Jane Doe dropped a man from her lawsuit whom she wrongly identified as president of the school’s Chi Phi fraternity — whose members she claims gang raped her.Doe, who has accused seven Chi Phi brothers of sexually assaulting her at a party in October 2024, initially named Orazio Petito in her civil lawsuit, which she filed last month.Petito, who was mistakenly identified as the chapter’s president, was not accused of sexual assault. He has now been dropped from Doe’s complaint, according to a notice of discontinuance filed Tuesday.The actual identity of Chi Phi’s chapter president at the time remains unclear.“We’re pleased with the dismissal of the case against my client, and justice was served,” Petito’s attorney, Eric Bernstein, told Newsday.It comes as Doe released a new letter blasting Cornell University’s president, Michael Kotlikoff, for his response to her alleged assault.She claimed that after she reported the alleged attack in November 2024, Kotlikoff spoke with her sorority president, asking, “Why did she wait so long to report it?” according to her letter, which was obtained by the New York Times.Doe branded Kotlikoff’s alleged initial response “an expression of doubt in the veracity of my story,” according to the letter, dated Oct.14.She said that when Tri Delta’s then-president told her, she “felt unsupported and disbelieved by President Kotlikoff,” the letter states.Doe added that the experience had further tarnished her views of Cornell, which she described as her “dream school.”Kotlikoff acknowledged missteps in the Ivy League school’s handling of the case as he faced angry faculty members at a meeting last Wednesday.But the under-fire president defended his leadership, as the university’s faculty Senate debated a no-confidence resolution in his administration.Describing the problems brought up by the Cornell 7 case as “not easy,” Kotlikoff insisted that replacing him as president ...