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Outrage over the alleged 2024 gang rape of a Cornell University (New York) student, which authorities are now investigating, grew this Wednesday after it became known that the victim had reported from the very beginning that she had been "coerced" and "raped."
The abuse came to light after the victim filed a civil lawsuit on September 18 against Cornell and the 7 alleged attackers, members of a fraternity, after which the local District Attorney's Office decided to reopen an investigation despite having declined to do so when the events took place in October 2024.
The victim initially reported the abuse to university police, and today several media outlets, including CBS, accessed the transcript of her account, in which she admits to not remembering parts of the night because she had consumed alcohol and drugs, but states that she was "physically beaten" and "raped."
"I can say with 100% certainty that I was raped," the victim, who was 20 at the time, told campus police while reporting the events over two days of interviews on November 14 and 15, 2024, about three weeks after the incident, according to CBS.
The channel ABC includes statements that she felt "coerced," vocally rejected the men's advances, and felt "that she was incapable of making any decisions because of how intoxicated she was."
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who reopened the investigation this week and justified his lack of action in 2024 because "there was no evidence of a lack of consent," told CBS that he had never seen that transcript because it was not "provided" to him.
"If that kind of thing was omitted from a statement, if it is true, it must be fully investigated by someone outside of Cornell," the prosecutor added.
Public shaming and investigations
The victim alleged that Cornell, an elite university, conducted a deficient investigation in which only two of the alleged attackers were expelled, while the others were offered "mitigation" measures such as writing an essay, while she dropped out of her studies and did not recover her tuition money.
The alleged attackers have been dubbed 'The Cornell 7' amid public shaming led by former 'South Park' writer Toby Morton, who created a website exposing their identities, while numerous public figures have expressed outrage on their social media profiles.
The victim's civil lawsuit indicates that she was intoxicated when a friend and another man pressured her to consume ketamine and have sex with both, to which she initially agreed, according to the sworn statement released by the prosecutor when opening the investigation.
But later, one of the students announced in a Snapchat group that there was "free pussy" at the fraternity house, according to a screenshot included in the document, and that is when the victim states she was abused for hours by several men.
CBS obtained videos of the Snapchat message thread, shared by about 60 fraternity members, and one asks "Is the shop still open?", referring to the victim, to which another replies that it is.
The Ithaca Police Department, the city where the campus is located, in Tompkins County, said it recently learned of the incident through the media, and that it was never reported, CNN indicates.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul demanded yesterday a "transparent and independent review" of Cornell's initial response to the victim's allegations, after which State Attorney General Letitia James said she would open an investigation.
[Publicidad]