Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) chimed in on Cornell University’s handling of a 2024 sexual assault case that garnered national headlines when the alleged victim filed a lawsuit alleging that seven male students took advantage of her at a party.

While speaking at a “Students vs. Billionaires” town hall on Sunday in New York, Ocasio-Cortez discussed the issue.

The lawmaker recounted attending Boston University and attending her first college party. “Someone had touched me inappropriately within 30 seconds of my first social outing going in,” she said.

She recalled being 17 years old when she was exposed to this type of conduct. 

I was 17 years old. I had been, you know, really kept from a lot of things like that when I was in high school, and I walked in, and I saw just, you know, incapacitated women, men taking advantage of them, people making decisions, and it— I mean, it was just horrible. And what I felt that I was in at that point was a factory of sexual assault. Yeah. It was a sexual assault factory.

She continued, pivoting to the revelations about what happened at Cornell University.

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When I read about what happened at Cornell, those men posted in a group chat. That means it was normal to them. That means it was acceptable to them. This is a culture; these are norms; these are practices. And what we must do is understand that we cannot protect those spaces anymore.

The lawmaker was referring to a group chat message in which the male students told others that the victim was passed out in a room and available for sex.

Ocasio-Cortez stated that “Rape is often used as an act of war. It is one of the most horrifying violations that can— that a human being can endure. It's a form of torture. You can't stay in school.”

And if Jane Doe is out there— and frankly, we know that one in four women have survived sexual assault in this country that we know of. So there are a lot of survivors here in this room today. So Jane Doe, if you are listening, or a survivor of any gender, mind you, because so many men and young boys are subject to this as well. That if you have been subject to this, I want you to know that you are not defined by the things that have happened to you. You are bigger than that.

You are stronger than them. And they will never define you for your entire life. And that you can achieve anything that you want to achieve, from one survivor to another. Thank you. So we're with you, and let's get to it.

The victim said in court documents that she was sexually assaulted at the Chi Phi fraternity house in Ithaca in October 2024. She alleged that seven fraternity members pressured her to drink alcohol and snort ketamine, a drug she said she hadn’t used before.

“In her drunken state, Plaintiff was incapable of consenting to this proposition,” the lawsuit against the school and students states.

Cornell said some of the students were expelled and disputed the victim’s claim that they only received minimal punishment. None of them have been criminally charged, but it was recently reported that New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office is investigating the matter.

Some have questioned Jane Doe’s account, claiming it does not match what she told campus police in November 2024. District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said in a September statement that the woman’s “sworn statement in November of 2024 did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped” and that she “described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”

The 2024 account described her agreeing to a threesome and that the encounter ended when she told the men she was tired around 5:45 AM When asked about her statements in 2024 saying that she was fully confident she had been raped, Van Houten said he never saw the comments.

At least three of the men have denied criminal wrongdoing.