One of the men named in the “Cornell 7” case is suing the prestigious university to have his academic record cleared and allegations against him withdrawn.
Referenced only as “John Doe” in the filing, the man is a former fraternity member who has admitted to being present at the Chi Phi house on the night that the woman known as Jane Doe now says that she was raped — but he says that Cornell University violated its own policy during the investigation.
In court documents filed in Tompkins County, Doe alleges that the university ultimately “found him responsible” for an offense for which he was neither charged nor given a chance to defend himself — which he said was a violation of policy.
Cornell’s hearing panel found Doe not responsible for sexual assault or sexual exploitation — the only two offenses he was charged with — but they found him responsible for Attempted Sexual Exploitation, concluding that he entered the room where the alleged assault was taking place intending to watch. Doe says he built his entire defense, including statements, evidence, and testimony, around the two charges he actually faced, and never got the chance to answer the third.
Doe also alleges that one member of the hearing panel joined by Zoom while driving a car as testimony was being taken, and argues that the hearing was “irreparably compromised by the repeated inattention of [a] panel member.” Cornell’s appeal panel rejected that argument, finding the panelist was in the vehicle for only a minimal portion of the multi-day hearing, and denied his appeal in January.
He claimed in the documents that the university had effectively pulled a “bait and switch” by charging him with a separate offense after forcing him to defend himself against others.
The lawsuit says that after an initial investigation into the October 2024 incident, Cornell charged Doe under Policy 6.4, its Title IX policy, with one count of Sexual Assault and one count of Sexual Exploitation. The university claimed that in addition to viewing the alleged victim naked, Doe had “touched his nose to her naked torso while inhaling Ketamine off her body.”
Doe said that he submitted evidence — including a hair follicle test proving that he was negative for ketamine — along with a statement asserting that he had not used any illicit substances. He further denied having any physical contact with the alleged victim.
Doe has conceded that he was alerted to the situation at the Chi Phi house during a party via a Snapchat message, and when he went to see what was happening, he had seen Jane Doe “sitting on a bed and speaking with a member of the fraternity, Roe was fully covered with sheets and Doe asked them if they were okay, and after both said they were, Doe left the room.”
Doe’s suit overall claims that “Sexual Exploitation and Attempted Sexual Exploitation are distinct offenses because they are separately defined in Policy 6.4, and argues that ‘Cornell cannot simply add on lesser included offenses after the hearing is concluded.'”
Doe is asking the court to declare that Cornell misapplied its policies and acted arbitrarily, annul the panel’s decision, vacate all penalties against him, and expunge every reference to the charges from his academic record.
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