New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Cornell University police omitted a former student’s statement that she was “100% confident” she had been raped from the account they sent to prosecutors. The woman alleges that seven men sexually assaulted her at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024. “She was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her,” Hochul said.

Hochul made the charge after signing an executive order appointing Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor, citing lost faith in the Tompkins County district attorney’s ability to oversee the case fairly. James will investigate and, if warranted, prosecute offenses and present evidence to a grand jury.

Prosecutors reopened the investigation after the woman filed a civil lawsuit in September alleging Cornell failed to protect her. The district attorney had said her original police statement did not specifically allege nonconsensual conduct; her lawyer disputed that account, saying the statement and lawsuit were similar. Cornell supports reopening the criminal investigation and denies treating the accused fraternity members leniently.