Statement by National NOW President Kim Villanueva
It’s past time for Cornell University and the New York State justice system to do the right thing.
The Cornell 7’s lack of accountability at multiple levels is a continued assault on Jane Doe. Instead of allowing institutional failures to continue, Cornell University and New York State must take immediate action to course correct and bring the long-awaited justice this case demands.
It’s outrageous that the public learned about the details of this case only after Jane Doe filed a lawsuit this month. Even more abhorrent are the allegations in that lawsuit that, when she reported being plied with alcohol, drugged, and sexually assaulted by multiple men as a 20-year-old undergraduate, she did not receive an immediate response — or even an interview — from local police.
The reopening of the criminal investigation by the Tompkins County District Attorney is a step in the right direction. But it’s nowhere near enough. The investigation must be thorough, independent, and transparent. It must examine not only the alleged crimes but also how the original investigation was handled and whether critical evidence and allegations were properly pursued.
Cornell also has a responsibility to fully examine its policies and responses. We demand a thorough and independent investigation of Cornell University’s reporting processes and their Title IX compliance. The public and the Cornell community deserve to know what happened, what went wrong, and what will be done to ensure it does not happen again.
The system failed Jane Doe. The questions raised about Cornell, campus police, and the initial criminal investigation cannot simply be dismissed or left unresolved. And New York’s laws must not create loopholes or barriers to justice for survivors whose ability to consent may have been impaired by alcohol or drugs.
That’s why the National Organization for Women and our members and chapters in New York are calling for a special prosecutor to be assigned, with independent authority to investigate the crimes at Cornell and address the root causes of that abuse.
New York state legislators also have an opportunity to do the right thing and close the legal loophole that defines rape narrowly and excludes a person who is assaulted while intoxicated — unless they are fully unconscious at the time of the assault.
NOW calls on the New York State Assembly to join the New York Senate in passing the Voluntary Intoxication Exclusion Act in the coming legislative session.
NOW will continue to stand for women’s rights, freedom from violence, and justice that is inclusive to lasting legal change — not more permission and accommodation for abusers.
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