The administration of an Ivy League university has formally backed state legal actions regarding a series of sexual assault allegations on its campus. Cornell University supports the move by New York prosecutors to prepare criminal charges against seven men involved in a 2024 gang rape at a fraternity house, a case that was recently reopened by authorities.

The renewed probe follows a civil lawsuit filed this month alleging Cornell failed to protect the victim. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez alleged the victim, then 20, was incapacitated with ketamine and assaulted for seven hours, while the university previously described the accuser's public statements as irresponsible. A lawyer for one of the accused has dismissed the claims as a money grab, asserting his client only made an immature comment in a Snapchat message that referred to the student as free p***y upstairs.