Cornell University has asked former Justice Department official Sally Yates to examine how the school handles sexual misconduct complaints. The Cornell Sally Yates review was announced by university trustees on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, after several days of public anger over how Cornell responded to an allegation of a 2024 gang rape at a fraternity house. The Associated Press first reported the announcement.
Trustees named Yates, a former deputy attorney general, to lead an outside assessment of Cornell’s handling of sexual assault and harassment reports. The review will also cover discipline, campus police and oversight of student groups. No criminal charges have been filed, and the allegations in the related lawsuit have not been proven in court.
Key Facts at a Glance
What the Cornell Sally Yates Review Will Examine
According to the trustees, the assessment will look at how the university investigates reports of sexual assault and sexual harassment. It will also study how the disciplinary process works and how campus police respond when a student comes forward.
Cornell said Yates will also look at how the specific complaint at the center of the controversy was handled. In addition, she will review how the university supervises fraternities, sororities and other campus organizations.
Trustee Chair Anne Meinig Smalling said in a statement that Cornell has to examine itself as rigorously as it would expect others to be examined. The trustees did not release a timeline in the information available at the time of writing.
Who is Sally Yates?
Yates served as deputy attorney general in the Obama administration. She has led high-profile outside investigations before. In 2021, U.S. Soccer asked her to investigate allegations of abuse and sexual misconduct in women’s professional soccer, as an American Bar Association magazine article describes. That report relied on document reviews and interviews with current and former employees.
How the Controversy Began
The review follows a complaint from a woman known publicly only as Jane Doe. She told campus police in November 2024 that, a few weeks earlier, she had been sexually assaulted by several members of the Chi Phi fraternity. She said she had been pressured into drinking and taking drugs beforehand.
Last month she sued Cornell, seven former students, the fraternity and others. As of the latest reporting, no criminal charges have been filed. The accused have not been convicted of anything, and the claims in the lawsuit remain allegations.
Cornell has said it shut down the Chi Phi chapter, expelled some students and suspended others. The Boston Globe reported that the university has declined to give specifics, citing student privacy rules.
Questions about the original handling
The case drew renewed attention after the woman’s lawsuit raised questions about what campus police told prosecutors. Several news outlets reported that the Tompkins County District Attorney’s office considered the account it received from Cornell police not to describe a crime. Reporting also says the woman gave a more explicit account in a later police interview. The details are still being examined, and the officials involved have not all publicly answered those questions.
State Officials Step In
Gov. Kathy Hochul called for an outside investigation of Cornell’s campus culture and its response on Sept. 29, according to ABC News. The Tompkins County district attorney had reopened the criminal investigation after reviewing new information in the lawsuit.
Days later, Hochul signed an executive order making Attorney General Letitia James’s office the special prosecutor. FOX Local reported that James said every New Yorker deserves to know a reported crime will be investigated fully and fairly. Hochul said the office would oversee the case and, if warranted, present evidence to a grand jury.
Hochul said new information had shaken her confidence, and the public’s, in the district attorney’s ability to handle the case. The district attorney, Matthew Van Houten, had not responded to messages seeking comment when the order was first reported.
Cornell agreed to outside lawyers
Under pressure from the public and politicians, Cornell agreed the day before the governor’s order to bring in outside lawyers, the Irish Examiner reported. The Cornell Sally Yates review is the next step in that process, announced after a large campus protest.
What Remains Unclear
Several important points are still unknown. Cornell has not said how long the Cornell Sally Yates review will take or whether Yates’s findings will be made public. It is also not clear how her work will interact with the special prosecutor’s criminal investigation.
Her review is also separate from any court ruling. The civil lawsuit will proceed on its own track, and the university and the other defendants have the right to respond to the claims in court.
For students and families, the practical question is whether the review leads to changes in how reports are taken, investigated and passed to law enforcement. The trustees have said only that the Cornell Sally Yates review will cover those areas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is leading the Cornell Sally Yates review?
Sally Yates, who was a deputy attorney general in the Obama administration, will spearhead it.
What will the review cover?
It will cover how Cornell investigates assault and harassment reports, its disciplinary process, campus police responses, the handling of the specific complaint, and oversight of campus groups.
Have criminal charges been filed?
No. Reporting says no criminal charges have been filed, though the investigation was reopened and is now overseen by the state attorney general’s office.
What has Cornell done so far?
The university closed its Chi Phi chapter and says it expelled some students and suspended others. It has not shared specifics, citing student privacy.
Are the allegations proven?
No. The claims appear in a civil lawsuit filed last month against the university, seven former students, the fraternity and others, and they have not been decided in court.
