The local district attorney’s office might be revisiting a 2024 rape allegation by a now-former Cornell student who alleges she was drugged and gang-raped at a fraternity party. A civil lawsuit has been filed, but what’s peculiar about this story and ABC News’ report on it is that Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten claims the victim’s account has changed drastically. I can already see potential trouble here, not least because these stories are not what they seem, the reporting is usually botched, and the victim is lying. 

Does anyone remember the fiasco caused by The Rolling Stone’s story about a gang rape that never happened at the University of Virginia? It led to the publication being found liable for libel and destroyed the career of the journalist who filed the story. In fact, it was The Washington Post’s education reporter who picked apart the entire piece in a few days. Could that be what’s going on here (via ABC News):

Prosecutors in central New York say they are reopening the investigation of alleged "gang rape" at a Cornell University fraternity in 2024 after a civil lawsuit filed earlier this month sparked outrage about the incident. 

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said in a statement that his office is considering whether to bring criminal charges related to the incident, though he said the allegations in the civil complaint are “dramatically different” than the woman’s statement to police two years ago. 

“It's our intention to present the case to the Tompkins County grand jury with Jane Doe's cooperation,” Van Houten told ABC News. “We want to reexamine whether there's additional evidence that we were not aware of in November of 2024, that exists now that would change our assessment of the case and would result in the grand jury finding that there was criminal conduct.” 

The reopening of the case comes less than two weeks after a former Cornell student filed a civil lawsuit alleging that she was drugged, assaulted and gang raped by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity at Cornell. 

Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter was barred from campus after the alleged incident, though none of the individuals allegedly involved faced criminal charges, according to the DA. Van Houten said his office did not bring charges in 2024 because the woman’s statement to authorities did not allege she was drugged or that she did not consent to engage in sexual activities. 

“She never says that she was drugged without her knowledge. She admits to taking drugs and alcohol voluntarily and with knowledge. She does not allege that she was forced to engage in any acts. She does not say that she was physically helpless or unconscious or incapacitated at any point during the time at the fraternity house,” Van Houten said. 

Thomas P. Giuffra, attorney for Jane Doe, disputed Van Houten’s description of the woman’s initial statement to the Cornell University Police Department and faulted authorities for never following up with his client. 

“In my experience, speaking with an abuse survivor requires delicacy, understanding and specialized training. An average University Police officer would not have these skills. It would be the role of a specially trained detective or district attorney. however, Ms. Doe was never contacted by anybody with those skills,” he said. 

In an interview with ABC News, Van Houten acknowledged that he relied on the investigation conducted by Cornell Police and said his office didn’t “independently investigate” the allegations - a policy he said was in line with many upstate New York counties. 

Van Houten also said that a group chat included in the complaint -- in which Jane Doe claims members of the fraternity discuss the alleged incident -- was never provided to his office. Giuffra said the messages are a “critical piece of evidence” that were provided to authorities in 2024.

Okay, so let’s wait and see here. During my college days, the MO was not to support law enforcement involvement, leaving it to the campus disciplinary committees, which raised a whole other set of constitutional issues, not least because the standards of evidence, for example, were not high. Mere allegations ruined people’s lives. Like the Mattress Girl from Columbia, Emma Sulkowicz, whose case led to a Title IX lawsuit by her alleged aggressor, who claimed her art project/stunt of carrying around a mattress, among other things, was gender-based harassment. His lawsuits were dismissed, but the school decided to settle when an appeals process began.

The Duke lacrosse hoax is another case where the media went bananas and got everything wrong. Everything. Then-attorney general Roy Cooper declared all those involved innocent in the case. The accuser, Crystal Mangum, currently in jail for second-degree murder of her boyfriend, admitted in 2024 that she fabricated the entire rape allegation against the team. As with the Russian collusion hoax, most media outlets did not issue corrections or apologies for their trash reporting. Given how insufferable newsrooms are today, it wouldn’t shock me if this story turns out to be another circus.