Ithaca Halts Permits for Greek Life Over Alleged Rape Case

Michael Tracey lost his cool in front of the Ithaca Common Council on Wednesday. He shouted during the public comment session after officials tried to silence him and tossed out his card. His anger centered on one explosive accusation: the so-called 'Cornell 7' never got due process before the city moved to shut down Greek life events at Cornell University.

The council voted that same night to pause permits for both the university and student groups until November 5, a move reported by WSTM. They pointed directly to how the Ivy League school handled the alleged gang rape of Jane Doe inside the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024 as their main reason for the moratorium.

Jane Doe filed her civil lawsuit last month, claiming she was forced into taking drugs and sexually assaulted by seven men two years ago. Prosecutors later said there was 'insufficient evidence' to file criminal sexual assault charges, and all seven men have denied the accusations. Cornell kicked off a Title IX investigation in 2025, which resulted in shutting down the fraternity entirely.

Tracey called the council's actions shameful. He argued that officials were using their office to declare any American citizen guilty of crimes as heinous as gang rape before any semblance of an adjudicative process even happened.

'It's a scandal that this resolution would even be entertained, much less passed,' Tracey said. The city is now halting permits while the legal dust settles on one of the most explosive stories in Ithaca history.

This lawsuit is expressly tailored to extract the maximum settlement money from Cornell, from the sororities, from the fraternities and others." The words hit hard. He did not hold back. "What due diligence did you do to corroborate the veracity of those claims before you put them out in a public arena? Then came this threat inflation, this mass hysteria routine claiming you're somehow going to prevent sexual assault by thwarting students' ability to hold events for a month? There's no empirical basis for that whatsoever. And then somebody on your staff puts my request to speak in the trash can?"

City of Ithaca Ward 2 Alderperson Ducson Nguyen told the Daily Mail that Tracey's claim his card was thrown out is 'inconceivably stupid.' He also said: "Halting Greek life parties while we demand greater accountability from Cornell leadership is the absolute least we could do." The sentiment spread quickly through the community.

Ultimately, the resolution passed 9-1 and included an amendment requiring Cornell to turn over sex and violent crime investigations to the Ithaca Police Department. The amendment does not specify how that would be enforced. A gaping hole remains in the plan.

Jane Doe's lawsuit sparked national outrage over how authorities handled the case, and New York Attorney General Letitia James has since opened an 'active criminal investigation' into the allegations. Cornell has hired Sally Yates, a former Obama-appointed justice official who was infamously fired by President Donald Trump, to investigate its response to gang rape allegations. The stakes could not be higher.

One of the men allegedly posted to the fraternity's active-members Snapchat group saying that there was 'free p***y' upstairs, referring to Doe, according to the filing, which included an image of the purported chat. Protests have erupted on campus over the school's handling of the case after prosecutors initially declined to pursue charges against the men. The anger is real and the noise is loud.

The woman claimed in her filing that the night of October 19, 2024, began with underage drinking at several bars with sorority sisters before she was then invited to an afterparty at the Chi Phi fraternity house. She said she 'stumbled alone' to meet up with her friend, Ingalls. She said she then agreed to have sex with Ingalls and another man, but alleged that she was pressured to snort ketamine and smoke marijuana as she became heavily intoxicated.

Jane Doe alleged that she became disoriented as other men joined in, all while the men sent a message to the Chi Phi Snapchat group to say there was 'free p***y upstairs' in an invite for others to enter the room as well. The messages also allegedly included an invitation to 'walk in and whip it out,' the lawsuit claims. She said in the complaint that the horrific night ended at around 5.45am on October 20, 2024, when she lost consciousness and eventually returned to her sorority house.

Three weeks later, she reported the incident to the police, but prosecutors declined to bring charges, citing 'insufficient evidence.' The Daily Mail contacted the Ithaca Common Council for comment. Silence hangs heavy over the town now.