Crime & Justice
Cornell rape allegations renew New York push to change sexual assault law
October 1, 2026 at 10:28 PM · Updated 14d ago
Coverage
3 reports · over 16 hours
BNBBC News
A 'dark cloud' and 'dismal' mood: What it's like at Cornell amid frat rape allegation
(opens the publisher’s site)
AJAl Jazeera English
Cornell rape allegations renew push to change New York sexual assault law
(opens the publisher’s site)
BNBBC News
Lawyer for Cornell accuser says university doctor was 'yet another failure'
(opens the publisher’s site)Tompkins County prosecutors will reopen the probe into an alleged 2024 Cornell gang rape as New York lawmakers renew efforts to change sexual assault law.
- Tompkins County prosecutors said they will reopen the case and bring it before a grand jury.
- Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and State Senator Nathalia Fernandez sponsored bills to treat willingly intoxicated people as mentally incapacitated and unable to consent.
- Van Houten said New York law only considers someone mentally incapacitated if they were drugged without their knowledge.
- Governor Kathy Hochul said Cornell agreed to an outside law firm's new investigation into the university's handling of the case.
- Hochul appointed state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor after losing faith in the district attorney.
- Students and faculty said the allegations cast a 'dark cloud' over the campus.
- At a student assembly, attendees demanded expulsions and policy changes over the case.