Community Statement Concerning Cornell University

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We, leaders and stakeholders serving the Ithaca and Tompkins County communities, demand that the Cornell University Board of Trustees and senior Ithaca campus officials take immediate, transparent, and effective steps toward terminating the campus sexual assault culture that Cornell acknowledges has persisted for too long.

We share the outrage that has been expressed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Cornell students, Cornell faculty, Cornell alumni, Ithaca and Tompkins County community members, and Americans across the country over the handling of allegations that Jane Doe was gang raped at the Chi Phi fraternity house on the Cornell campus on October 19-20, 2024.

We support Governor Hochul’s appointment of Attorney General Letitia James to conduct a new investigation of the allegations and the Governor’s call for Cornell to appoint outside counsel to review how university officials handled Jane Doe’s sexual assault report.

We speak out collectively because the persistence of sexual assault involving Cornellians impacts the wider Ithaca and Tompkins County communities. Our medical and emergency services, behavioral health providers, and sexual assault advocates are directly involved in supporting Cornell students who experience sexual assault or are affected by it in other ways. Members of our communities including our children are constantly alerted to incidents of sexual misconduct related to the Cornell campus.

We agree with Governor Hochul when she stated: “This culture has to stop. And in New York, we’re going to do everything we can to stop it.”

In Ithaca and Tompkins County, this now begins with Cornell immediately implementing robust, zero-tolerance policies and practices for preventing sexual violence, including: educating its students about sexual assault and its root causes; procedures ensuring effective Title IX and criminal investigations of assault allegations; and meaningful and timely penalties placed on perpetrators as well as Greek organizations and other entities responsible for tolerating sexual assault on their premises.

We call on Cornell to implement a system of accountability that transparently reviews and evaluates its reforms and regularly reports back to the campus, Ithaca, and Tompkins County communities on the results.

Robert Cantelmo, Mayor, City of Ithaca

Shawna Black, Chair, Tompkins County Legislature

Lea Webb, Senate Member for District 52, New York State Senate

Anna Kelles, Assembly Member for District 125, New York State Assembly

Josephine Gibson, Mental Health Association in Tompkins County

Tiffany Bloss, Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County

Crystal Howser, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Greater Central New York

Sandra Sorensen, NAMI Finger Lakes

Jennifer Brownell, Advocacy Center of Tompkins County

MindWell Psychology LLP

Anke Wessels, Center for Transformative Action

Jan Lynch, Finger Lakes Independence Center

Meryl Phipps, Village at Ithaca

Olan E. Mack, The Learning Web, Inc.

Reverend Debbie Bennett Reynolds, First Baptist Church in Ithaca

The. Rev. Dr. Jason R. Churchill, St. Luke Lutheran Church and Lutheran Campus Ministry

Rev. Kirianne E. Weaver, for the Session, First Presbyterian Church of Ithaca

Tamie Pushlar, Parents Coalition to STOP Cornell Rape Culture

Andrew Pushlar, Parents Coalition to STOP Cornell Rape Culture

Julia Taylor, Civic Ensemble

Lesley Greene, Story House Ithaca

Jonathan Miller, Story House Ithaca

Jen Pearcy-Edwards, Story House Ithaca

Darrel Harrington, Be Kind Ithaca

Samantha Shoemaker, Free Hugs Ithaca

Scott MacLeod, The Sophie Fund

October 15, 2026

What Exactly Is the Mandate for Cornell’s “Independent Review”?

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The Sophie Fund on October 14 asked the Special Committee of the Cornell University Board of Trustees to publicly release its engagement letter with King & Spalding setting out the firm’s precise mandate, scope of its factual inquiry, and terms governing its independence and authority in reviewing the university’s handling of gang rape allegations.

Cornell University Arts Quad

A letter of engagement is a document that formally establishes the terms under which a law firm is hired by an institution to conduct a review or other legal work including in such matters when the institution’s actions have created a crisis of public trust.

King & Spalding LLP has been commissioned by the Special Committee to review Cornell’s response to allegations that a Cornell undergraduate was raped at the Chi Phi fraternity house on campus in October 2024. King & Spalding is a 141-year-old Atlanta-based international law firm with 26 offices across the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific whose clients include large corporations, financial institutions, and governments.

In a letter sent to Ann Meinig Smalling, chair of the Board and of the Special Committee, The Sophie Fund said it was seeking the release of the engagement letter because the Board of Trustees Special Committee’s October 6 statement left important questions unanswered about what it means by a “detailed review” and by King & Spalding’s “full independence.”

The Sophie Fund also asked the Special Committee to commit to publishing King & Spalding’s full final report, including its full factual findings and recommendations, in full, subject only to redactions required by applicable law or necessary to protect legitimate privacy interests.

Regarding King &B Spalding’s “detailed review,” The Sophie Fund said it is seeking to know whether the engagement letter expressly includes or excludes examination of the following in Jane Doe’s case:

  • What Cornell officials knew, when they knew it, and what actions they took in response to that knowledge.
  • The actions and decisions of senior Cornell administrators and trustees.
  • The actions and decisions of Cornell University Police Department (CUPD) personnel.
  • CUPD’s referral of the matter to the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office, including the information and evidence communicated in that referral.
  • Whether relevant evidence was appropriately identified, collected, preserved, investigated, and communicated.
  • Cornell’s Title IX investigation and disciplinary processes, to the extent applicable to this matter.
  • Communications among Cornell administrators, police personnel, fraternity officials, and other relevant parties.
  • Whether Cornell’s existing policies and procedures were reasonable, appropriate, and adequate under the circumstances, as distinct from the focus on the Special Committee’s statement on “whether Cornell followed its policies and procedures in responding to the matter.” [italics added]
  • Whether errors, omissions, or other institutional failures contributed to the handling or outcome of the matter.

Furthermore, with respect to the Special Committee’s statement that King & Spalding will have “full independence,” The Sophie Fund is seeking to know whether the engagement letter expressly addresses the following:

  • Unrestricted access to all relevant university records, documents, electronic communications, case files, and other information concerning the Jane Doe matter.
  • Full authority to determine investigative methods, identify relevant witnesses, conduct interviews, and pursue appropriate lines of inquiry.
  • Unrestricted access to relevant Cornell officials, employees, trustees, and other witnesses.
  • Full authority to expand the investigation if and when new evidence or related concerns emerge.
  • Protection against university interference with, or improper influence over, the investigation, its findings, or the preparation of its report.
  • Whether the Special Committee or other Cornell entities and officials will have an opportunity to review, edit, approve, or delay publication of the final report.

The Sophie Fund stated:

“We welcome the Cornell University Board of Trustees Special Committee’s retention of King & Spalding to conduct an independent review of Cornell’s policies and practices concerning campus sexual assault, including a detailed review of the allegations described in the civil lawsuit brought by a plaintiff known as “Jane Doe.”

“This review comes in response to serious public-trust concerns, raised by numerous parties, including New York Governor Kathy Hochul, regarding Cornell’s handling of this matter.

 “We request that the Special Committee release its engagement letter with King & Spalding, including any attachments, amendments, and terms of reference, so that the Cornell campus and Ithaca communities can fully understand the firm’s precise mandate, the scope of its factual inquiry, the terms governing its independence and authority, its reporting obligations, and Cornell’s commitment regarding public release of King & Spalding’s final report.”

Finally, The Sophie Fund is seeking clarification of Cornell’s intentions about releasing King & Spalding’s final report.

The Sophie Fund wrote: “The Special Committee’s statement that it ‘intends to share the results and recommendations’ [italics added] of the review does not, by itself, establish whether the full report will be made public or whether the university will have any role in determining its contents.

“The public’s ability to assess the credibility of an independent review depends not only on the reputation of the law firm retained, but also on the scope of its assignment, the authority it has been given, and the transparency of the process and its findings.”

The Sophie Fund requested a response from the Special Committee by October 26, 2026.

Spotlighting Suicide Prevention in Tompkins County

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Jay Carruthers, director of the Suicide Prevention Center of New York, told a conference on September 30 that other counties in the state “could learn a lot” from suicide prevention efforts undertaken in Tompkins County.

Carruthers moderated a panel discussion at “Rooted in Action: Innovative Approaches for Rural Suicide Prevention,” the New York State Office of Mental Health’s annual suicide prevention conference held in Ithaca this year on September 29-30. It was attended by more than 300 public health officials, healthcare and behavioral health providers, educators, researchers, and advocates from across the state.

Tiffany Bloss, Harmony Ayers-Friedlander, Laura Sidari, Andreia de Lima, and Jay Carruthers

The session, “Implementing the Zero Suicide Model: the Tompkins County Experience,” featured four local leaders:

Andreia de Lima, Chief Medical Officer, Cayuga Health/Centralus Health; Laura Sidari, Program Director and Consulting Psychiatrist, Cayuga Integrated Behavioral Health; Tiffany Bloss, Executive Director, Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County; and Harmony Ayers-Friedlander, Deputy Commissioner of Mental Health Services, Tompkins County Whole Health.

Carruthers kicked off the session explaining that Zero Suicide is a framework for “strengthening health systems in a systematic way to prevent suicides.” He said research shows that often people who die by suicide had just had contact with a health provider before their death. The model provides for a series of protocols to be used in healthcare and behavioral health, such as routinely screening patients for suicidality, assessing their level of risk, and providing brief interventions and suicide-specific, evidence-based treatment when indicated.

Carruthers commended local stakeholders for working together toward implementing the Zero Suicide model.

“Tompkins County really seems to stand out in many respects with its ability to work across different providers and organizations. I think that’s remarkable, and certainly other counties could learn a lot from the experience here in Tompkins,” Carruthers said.

New York State Suicide Prevention Conference, Ithaca, September 29

De Lima walked the session through the steps that Cayuga Health has taken toward implementing the model since 2017. She noted that her system’s initial steps were interrupted by the healthcare emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

She explained that Cayuga Health’s initial Zero Suicide efforts were siloed in the hospital’s emergency department and the inpatient behavioral health unit. After Covid, leadership moved to expand the initiative to the entire health system, which includes primary care practices and addiction services besides the community hospital, she explained.

De Lima said Part 2 of Cayuga Health’s initiative began in 2023 with a presentation to senior staff by leading Zero Suicide expert Brian Ahmedani, Director of the Center for Health Policy & Health Services Research at Henry Ford Health in Detroit.

Cayuga Health proceeded with the steps in the model such as conducting an Organizational Self-Study and Workforce Survey and establishing an internal Zero Suicide steering committee and subcommitees. Cayuga Health clinicians are utilizing tools prescribed in the model including the PHQ-9 depression screen, Columbia C-SSRS assessment screen, and the Stanley-Brown Safety Plan intervention, de Lima said.

“[We want to] connect patients to the healthcare services that they need, and make this part of prevention, a natural part of your screening the same way we ask for risk factors for heart disease, for stroke, and for your high blood pressure. Mental health vital signs need to be part of it as well,” she said.

A major challenge Cayuga Health faces is providing Zero Suicide training to a workforce of 6,000 employees, including large units added with a recent merger, de Lima said. She said Cayuga Health is exploring ways that all employees can consistently receive continuing education in suicide prevention protocols and new employees can be trained during onboarding.

Sidari, a consulting psychiatrist embedded in primary case practices within Cayuga Health, called de Lima “an amazing champion” for bringing diverse units of the health system together behind the Zero Suicide initiative.

“Dr. de Lima was really instrumental in taking that to the next level, because as a chief medical officer, with the clinical background and the leadership background, she was able to connect us across this very siloed health system in ways that we would not have been able to despite how strongly and passionately we were about this,” she said.

Sidari said her experience as a psychiatrist within the U.S. Air Force’s suicide prevention program between 2008 and 2019 prepared her for supporting the Zero Suicide work at Cayuga Health.

“I experienced medicine and suicide prevention as part of a culture. It was from that robust background that I really had a good sense of how to develop processes and procedures in primary care because it was like the back of my hand from what I had done in the military, making that as part of the safety culture,” she explained.

Sidari shared how her military experience, including losing a mentor to suicide, highlighted the importance of socializing suicide prevention clinical work.

“When we’re looking at processes and looking at ways to serve, I always keep at the forefront those lived experiences of those that we work with. When somebody disclosed this thought of death by suicide, we need to express gratitude. The reality is 40 percent of people who die by suicide never tell anyone. But the majority have had a primary care visit. So the fact that that person is coming in today and has the courage to disclose, we want to honor that,” she said.

Suicide Prevention Center of New York team

Ayers-Friedlander, who oversees the county’s mental health serices and has played a leading role in the Tompkins County Suicide Prevention Coalition, emphasized the importance of driving the Zero Suicide initiative through broad community support and involvement. Besides benefitting from synergies, she noted, this supports specific elements of the Zero Suicide Model such as ensuring transition and continuity of care for suicidal patients.

“We know the point of care that has highest risk is when people are transitioning out of the hospital [after treatment for suicidality] and back into the community. We know statistically about half of those people are never showing up to your outpatient program. We’re working with the hospital right now trying to figure out how we improve that,” she said.

Ayers-Friedlander also stressed the importance of leadership in developing the Zero Suicide initiative.

“You need leadership at that very top level in your community, in your organizations. It has to be there if you’re going to implement this model. There are going to be challenges. If the top leadership says this is important and there’s buy in, but the people that have boots on the ground every day don’t understand why you’re doing this model, then it’s never going to go anywhere,” she said.

Ayers-Friedlander and other panelists cited The Sophie Fund’s role as advocate and coordinator in helping spur the Zero Suicide initiative.

Bloss, whose agency operates the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for 17 central New York counties and also provides training and education, lauded the county’s commitment.

“Tompkins County is like no other. The ways of collaboration, the grassroots here, is incredible. How well everyone works together and the buy-in that people have. You all are here because you care about suicide prevention. We want to know what else we can do. That’s the feeling that we need,” said Bloss.

She explained how her agency is instrumental in supporting continuity of care.

“People talking to 988, they are not able to get into their provider or they’re on a wait list for a therapy appointment. Usually when you leave the hospital you get a referral but doesn’t mean tomorrow. What do you do if something happens between now and then if it’s two weeks away? We’re able to be there to be able to be supportive for those folks,” she said.

Bloss noted that everyone has a role to play in preventing deaths by suicide, not just clinicians.

“Anybody who interacts with a human needs to have suicide prevention training. It is not just for the professional world. It can work in the exam room but it can also work in your living room. We need to be able to check the signs for people who are having signs of suicide and be comfortable asking the question so that we know what to do with the answer,” she said.

The panelists cited workforce turnover and shortages as major challenges in advancing the Zero Suicide initiative.

“One of the hardest things is when you lose staff that have been in a role, they’re well known in the community, a lynchpin position for communication across systems. That’s very challenging. And it takes a while to rebuild that gap. Unfortunately, in our field that happens quite a bit,” said Ayers-Friedlander.

“Then shortage is a significant problem. When people are doing more work than they should be doing, it’s very hard to say, ‘Oh, you should go to this committee. Don’t do a billable service during this hour ago, go to this committee and do this other thing.’ That sounds very nice but it gets very hard.”

De Lima also cited the challenge of finding and enabling champions within large, complex health systems to drive the implementation of Zero Suicide protocols.

“I was not the champion for this effort when it started. It came my way, and I embraced it. So you have to find someone that’s willing to do that. Many hands make for light work. It comes down to process and project management. I need someone that is my subject matter expert on X. And this is the community person. This is the hospital person. This is the primary care person,” she said.

In response to an audience question at the end of the session, de Lima injected a note of humility about meeting the challenges.

“Looking at the county and the health system and all the work that we have done together, in almost 10 years, we have done a lot. We can say this is great and still look forward to all the other things that need to happen,” she said.

The suicide prevention conference featured 18 breakout sessions in addition to several plenary sessions. Among other topics covered were suicide prevention programming in rural schools, supporting loss survivors, the role of faith leaders, firearms safety, and engaging rural veterans in mental health services. Vernon E. Davis II, an army veteran and comedian who has experienced suicidal thoughts, delivered the conference keynote address.

Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo delivered welcoming remarks to the conference.

“This is an issue that is really important to me. Suicidal ideation is a real thing. And it is something that’s still, unfortunately, really taboo to talk about for a lot of folks, especially for our young people. Thank you all for the work that you do, for helping keep this in the sunlight, so that we can talk about these issues and reduce the prevalence of suicide,” he said.

OMH’s Suicide Prevention Center presented Madelyn Gould, professor emerita at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, with the Frederick Meservey Life and Leadership Award honoring a New Yorker who has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in the field of suicide prevention. The Rural Suicide Prevention Advocacy Award was given to Elisa and Joseph Tobia. Sara Hults was presented with the Suicide Prevention Champion Award.

Madelyn Gould presented with the Frederick Meservey Life and Leadership Award

Elisa and Joseph Tobia presented with the Rural Suicide Prevention Advocacy Award

Sara Hults presented with the Suicide Prevention Champion Award

Governor Hochul and the Cornell Investigation

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The Sophie Fund gave a presentation to members of New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s staff on October 7 on its experiences advocating for student mental health reforms at Cornell University including the need for zero-tolerance measures toward ending the high prevalence of sexual assault on the Ithaca campus.

In Executive Order 64 on October 1, Hochul directed Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the offenses alleged in a civil suit against seven Cornell students, Cornell University, and other parties by the plaintiff known as “Jane Doe.” She also demanded that Cornell commission outside counsel to undertake an independent review of how the university handled Jane Doe’s allegation that in 2024 she was gang raped at the Chi Phi fraternity house on campus.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul

Here is the text of The Sophie Fund’s presentation, delivered via Zoom by Co-Founder Scott MacLeod:

In 2016, our daughter Sophie, a Cornell senior on a mental health leave of absence from Cornell, took her own life while waiting to be re-admitted to the university.

Thereafter, my wife Susan and I established The Sophie Fund as a nonprofit advocacy organization to campaign for improved mental health support for young people in the greater Ithaca community including its college campuses.

I am also a current member of the New York State Suicide Prevention Council within the Office of Mental Health. OMH presented The Sophie Fund with its Excellence in Suicide Prevention Award in 2018.

By the way, professionally I was a TIME Magazine foreign correspondent for 25 years.

Thank you for this opportunity to share experiences and perspectives.

I’d like to share our experience that I think sheds light on the institutional indifference that provides some valuable context for the Jane Doe case.

And, from our perspective, how Cornell responded to the Jane Doe allegations—and to the furor that it is now causing—doesn’t instill confidence that much will change at Cornell.

For the past 10 years, The Sophie Fund has repeatedly urged the Cornell administration to reform its policies for student mental health, suicide prevention, and sexual assault prevention.

We have specifically and repeatedly warned Cornell administrators about the need for robust new policies to end the cycle of sexual assault on their campus.

Unfortunately, what we have experienced is foot dragging on promises of systemic change and a failure of accountability on the part of Cornell’s leaders.

Here’s the most palpable example of what we experienced.

In 2018, then Cornell President Martha E. Pollack commissioned a task force to review student mental health. We had led a campaign for a task force that was joined by students. She only agreed after foot dragging and gaslighting for a year and a half.

In our April 2017 letter to Pollack asking for the task force, we noted:

—“[Cornell’s] failure to develop a policy and strategy that addresses the disturbing mental health-related problem of sexual violence against Cornell students and provides effective support for victims of sexual violence.”

—“A lack of institutional accountability for Cornell’s mental health policies, programs, and practices.”

—“An institutional mindset reflecting complacency and defensiveness that appears to prioritize Cornell’s public image over the welfare of students struggling with mental disorders.”

—“A system of accountability would include a zero-tolerance program with robust measures to fight against rape and sexual violence, and hazing, and equally robust legal and psychological support services for victims.”

—“31.6 percent—nearly 1 in 3—reported being victims of rape or sexual battery during their years in college; 9.8 percent of undergraduate female students participating in a recent campus climate survey reported having been the victims of rape or attempted rape since enrolling at Cornell.”

The Mental Health Review task force report Pollack finally commissioned was good. It was led by Dr. Michael Hogan, a former New York State Commissioner of Mental Health and a widely respected national leader in mental health and suicide prevention.

Initially, Pollack’s team set up what they called the “Executive Accountability Committee” to review and implement Hogan’s recommendations. Her administration promised to regularly update the Cornell community on the progress. The Sophie Fund commended these steps at the time.

After a couple years of no clear action, Pollack’s administration abolished the Executive Accountability Committee. It also failed to fill senior healthcare related vacancies that were critical to implementing the mental health recommendations.

For example, the Cornell administration left vacant for two and a half years the position of Assistant Vice President for Student Health and Well-being.

These are not the actions of a university that is intent on protecting its students’ mental health and safety.

After experiencing frustration after being told over and over that a full accounting of the recommendations was still in the works, we wrote to President Michael I. Kotlikoff five times during the course of 2025.

We implored him to issue a report on what the Cornell administration had done with the task force’s 130 recommendations. After all, they had promised to do so.

Obviously—and a prestigious research institution like Cornell knows this very well—it was important that Cornell identify any changes that it had made and evaluate their effectiveness, as well as explain why it had not yet implemented any recommendations. True quality improvement is ongoing work.

We wrote: “Transparently fulfilling a commitment to hold itself accountable will enhance confidence and respect in how Cornell is supporting its students’ well-being and acting as a responsible and valued part of the greater community.”

Remember, by 2025 the students who had campaigned for a task force had long ago graduated. New student leaders on the campus didn’t even know there had been a task force.

After a summer of back-and-forth exchanges, Kotlikoff refused our request to inform the Cornell and Ithaca communities what Cornell had done with the recommendations. Cornell had moved on, he said.

A few more recent signs that suggest to us that the Cornell administration has not learned the lesson of accountability.

Kotlikoff issued a statement last Saturday, and Board Chair Smalling issued one yesterday. They both spoke of Cornell striving to be a national leader in sexual assault prevention.

But in the wake of this tremendously troubling Jane Doe case, with the fury of the campus and the nation directed at the Cornell administration, neither mentioned a single change of personnel or policy or practice that would take place immediately.

Finally, the allegations of gang rape in October 2024 led Kotlikoff to establish a Presidential Task Force on Sexual Assault in February 2025. He said it would deliver a report in the summer of 2025. The report came out only in March 2026.

People following this are not too impressed with the task force’s recommendations. And, apparently, neither is the Cornell Board of Trustees. In engaging King & Spalding, the Board tasked its team with reviewing “how the University prevents and responds to sexual harassment, sexual assault, and related misconduct on campus.”

Why Kotlikoff’s presidential task force did not do that is an important question. I believe the answer is that Cornell leadership is intent on downplaying the problem. The task force was for show.

Governor Hochul was on to something when she stated, “No institution gets to protect its reputation at the expense of a young person seeking justice.”

I know from discussions with many leaders and stakeholders and parents in Ithaca over the last two weeks that there is great anger and distress among local citizens who are not part of the Cornell campus. The persistence of sexual assault involving Cornellians has always impacted the wider Ithaca and Tompkins County communities.

Our medical and emergency services, behavioral health providers, and sexual assault advocates are directly involved in supporting Cornell students who experience sexual assault or are affected by it in other ways. Members of our community including our children are constantly alerted to incidents of sexual misconduct related to the Cornell campus.

We very much doubt that the Cornell administration would have reviewed its handling of the Jane Doe allegations on its own—if Governor Hochul had not demanded that they do so.

No matter what the new investigations bring about, we fear from frustrating experience that Cornell will pay lip service to reform and fail to follow through on systemic change with transparency and accountability as the Governor is demanding.

Students will move on. Attention will move on.

We deeply appreciate Governor Hochul’s intervention and her overall championing of health and safety for our young people throughout New York State. We pray that her leadership and influence will be a critical factor in ending the rape culture on the Cornell campus.

Cornell Board of Trustees Launches “Independent” Review After Gang Rape Allegations

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Anne Meinig Smalling, chair of the Cornell University Board of Trustees, in her first public statement on the sexual assault allegations made by a student identified as “Jane Doe” in a civil lawsuit against Cornell, says she wants Cornell to become a leader in preventing sexual violence.

Cornell University Board of Trustees Chair Anne Meinig Smalling (Cornell University)

Smalling made the comment on October 6 in a university statement from a newly formed “Special Committee,” which she also chairs, announcing the appointment of an outside law firm “to lead a comprehensive independent review of how the University prevents and responds to sexual harassment, sexual assault and related misconduct on campus.”

The statement said that the Special Committee had retained former U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, of the King & Spalding law firm, to conduct the review as expeditiously and thoroughly as possible.

“As part of that broader mandate, Yates and her team will conduct a detailed review of the university’s response to the allegations involving Jane Doe and members of the Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024, including whether Cornell followed its policies and procedures in responding to the matter,” the statement said.

The Board of Trustees intends to “share” the review’s “results and recommendations” with the Cornell community, the statement said. It did not say that the review’s final, full report to the Board would be provided to the Cornell community or to the broader public.

Commenting on the action, Smalling said:

“It is imperative that Cornell be willing to examine itself with the same rigor we expect of others. We want to understand not just what happened in 2024, but how Cornell can become a leader in preventing sexual violence, supporting those who come forward and responding to allegations rigorously, fairly and compassionately.”

The statement said that the review “will examine Cornell’s policies, practices and resources across the full range of prevention and response, including how reports are received and investigated; how students are supported; how hearings, disciplinary decisions and appeals are handled; the role, processes and response of campus police; coordination with other law enforcement agencies and prosecutors; campus safety reporting; and policies and oversight involving fraternities, sororities and other student organizations. It will also examine the Board’s oversight of these issues.”

The Special Committee is comprised of Smalling, and fellow trustees, Jennifer L. Davis, Tara Holm, Howard L. Morgan, Beckie Robertson, Stephen C. Robinson, Martin F. Scheinman, and Robert W. Selander.

“Sally Yates brings extraordinary experience, independence and judgment to this work,” said Smalling. “The questions raised by the Jane Doe matter warrant a rigorous examination of Cornell’s response to that case, but our responsibility is broader. We have asked Ms. Yates and her team to examine Cornell’s overall approach to preventing and responding to sexual misconduct, identify where we are doing things well and where we can do better, and recommend changes that will help make our community safer.”

The Board of Trustees acted in response to a demand to appoint outside counsel to review Cornell’s actions from New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who blasted Cornell’s handling of Jane Doe’s allegations as a “failure” for reportedly providing prosecutors with only a partial record of Jane Doe’s allegations. Hochul also appointed Attorney General Letitia James to be an independent special prosecutor into the gang rape allegations.

“There are also serious questions about Cornell’s campus culture and its systems for prevention, reporting, and response. That is why I am calling for outside counsel to conduct a transparent, independent review of the university’s response to determine whether Cornell met every obligation to protect its students and pursue justice,” Hochul said.

Hochul is demanding to know how Cornell handled Jane Doe’s complaint and also how Cornell has handled sexual assault allegations generally, suggesting that officials of the Ivy League school may have intentionally thwarted victim allegations for the sake of its prestige.

“No institution gets to protect its reputation at the expense of a young person seeking justice. No public official gets to look the other way when the system breaks down and fails our young people. And as governor, I will not allow anyone to sweep this case under the rug,” Hochul said.

The Special Committee’s brief statement made no mention of Hochul’s demands nor of the September 14 lawsuit filed against Cornell and the perpetrators in a gang rape that she alleges was committed in October 2024 at the Chi Phi fraternity house on the Cornell campus. The statement did not elaborate on the role it plays beyond retaining King & Spalding and directly receiving its findings and recommendations.

The statement added: “The University will provide the investigative team with access to relevant policies, records, case files, personnel and leadership, consistent with applicable law and privacy requirements. The review will assess Cornell’s organization, staffing and resources; policies and procedures; student support services; investigative and adjudicative processes; discipline and remediation; relationships with outside support organizations; and law-enforcement practices and coordination.”

The statement said that Yates, a former Acting Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, is a partner in King & Spalding’s Special Matters and Investigations practice. She led U.S. Soccer’s independent investigation into allegations of abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in women’s professional soccer.

Smalling, who last year became the first woman to chair Cornell’s Board in its 161-year history, is a third-generation Cornellian with deep ties to the university’s governance and growth. Her two daughters have attended the university and her father was once a chair of the Cornell Board himself.

According to the Cornell Chronicle, Smalling’s grandfather, Carl H. Meinig, graduated from Cornell nearly a century ago in 1931. Both of Smalling’s parents, Peter and Nancy, then attended Cornell, graduating in 1961 and 1962, respectively. Peter chaired the board from 2002 to 2011, when he was named chairman emeritus.

Smalling earned a bachelor’s degree in human development in the College of Human Ecology in 1987 and was a four-year varsity tennis player, captaining the team, the Chronicle reported.

The Meinig family has been one of Cornell’s most generous donors, according to the Chronicle. The new Meinig Fieldhouse on the Ithaca campus is named in memory of Smalling’s father.

“In 2015, a $50 million gift from Peter Meinig and his family endowed the Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, expanding and elevating what had been a department into a school within Cornell Engineering,” the Chronicle reported.

“Additional endowed positions and programs include the Meinig Family Professor of Engineering, Nancy Schlegel Meinig Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition, Meinig Family Investigatorships in the Life Sciences, Carl H. Meinig ’31 Head Coach of Women’s Tennis, and Meinig Family Cornell National Scholars.”

Smalling is CEO and managing partner of HM International, a diversified holding company with interests ranging from frozen foods and online learning to natural gas pipelines headquartered in Austin founded by her father.