Cornell drug arrest at Chi Phi house just before rape charges

Cornell University police made a drug arrest at the Chi Phi fraternity house on campus less than 24 hours before seven former members faced new civil charges for allegedly gang-raping a female classmate, records from the school's crime blotter show. The Cornell Daily Sun pulled this daily log entry back into light with a fresh report over the weekend.

Officers arrived at the university-owned frat house around 1 a.m. on Oct. 19, 2024, and took a student in for suspected drug offenses, the blotter states. It offers no specifics on the nature of the drugs or confirms if the arrested person belonged to Chi Phi. The entry simply notes that an individual was referred to the Office of Student Conduct.

Cornell President Mark Schlissel says the university must do better when handling sexual assault allegations. The crime log leaves many questions unanswered, failing to identify the substances involved or clarify how the arrest played out. Fox News Digital asked Cornell for comment and did not get a response immediately.

That same night, the fraternity hosted a party that ran late into the next morning. This gathering is central to a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of an unidentified Jane Doe. She told investigators on Nov. 8 that she was attacked between 11 p.m. on Oct. 19 and 5:45 a.m. on Oct. 20. In her complaint, Doe also claims she was pressured into snorting ketamine.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration describes ketamine as an anesthetic with dissociative and hallucinogenic effects. They warn that the drug has been used to facilitate sexual assault. The fraternity received a suspension on Nov. 8, 2024, the very day Doe reported her story to campus police.

Elsewhere, vandals smashed windows and painted slogans in red at Day Hall, an administrative building, early Monday morning. Images of the damage appeared in the Daily Sun. Kyle Kimball, vice president for university relations, addressed the unrest with Fox News.

"We understand the frustration and strong emotions being expressed across our community," Kimball said in a statement. "Those concerns deserve to be heard, but damaging property is not the answer. We are investigating the vandalism at Day Hall and will address it in accordance with University policy and applicable law."

Tompkins County prosecutors declined to file criminal charges after Doe first filed her report in 2024. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten explained that Doe's November 2024 sworn statement did not allege she was drugged against her will or gang raped. Instead, the filing described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.

However, a local CBS New York report says there is a transcript from interviews on Nov. 14 and 15 where Doe told investigators something different. She distinguished an initial consensual encounter from later assault at the party, reportedly telling them with 100% confidence that she was raped. Nobody knows this information about the transcript, Van Houten admitted to the outlet. That lack of knowledge gives me something to really dig into because that changes the landscape for me.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor last week to examine the allegations raised in Doe's lawsuit.