Hundreds of Ithaca residents gathered on The Commons downtown Sunday to show support for the former Cornell University student known as Jane Doe.
The former student filed a lawsuit last month against Cornell, the Chi Phi fraternity and others over the handling of her allegations that she was gang raped by fraternity members on campus in 2024.
People held signs saying “Essays are not punishment for rapists” and “We are Jane Doe.”
The rally was organized by Ithaca College students. Eliot Larson, 20, was one of the organizers. Larson said they were there for Jane Doe.
“It’s really important for her to see that her community is standing with her and we’re standing behind her and we don’t accept the mishandling of her case by Cornell or their rape culture,” Larson said.
The overwhelming majority of the crowd was made up of women of various generations.
Susan Odum, 62, attended with Laura McCarthy. They recently moved to Ithaca. Odum said she chose to retire in Ithaca because of the “vibrant” cultural life that comes with living in a college town. But now, she said, Cornell has lost her trust.
“The administration just doubled down on the lack of accountability with their first responses – two years later. I think it’s just horrible. Horrible. They’re trying to walk it back now but they can’t walk it back to me,” she said.
Odum said there is one change she thinks Cornell should make now.
“I think the leadership has to go.”
Sarah Mitchell, 18, is a freshman at Ithaca College.
Mitchell said she has only been in Ithaca since school started in September and already she has been groped, catcalled downtown. She said on her campus, a man tried to coerce her into getting in his car.
She got some of the loudest cheers of the afternoon when she read her demands for change at Cornell.
“I demand expulsion and the revocation of the degrees of all Chi Phi brothers involved in the gang rape of Jane Doe – including the men in the group chat. I call for the abolition of all Greek life at Cornell,” she said as the crowd cheered and applauded loudly.
Odum was among several who said change is not only needed at Cornell.
“It has to stop. And women are tired. And this is just another level of the MeToo movement that’s hitting colleges, universities. And let’s do it. Let’s take it down. It’s time,” she said.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul sent a message to be read at the rally. In it, she reiterated her commitment to change state laws on sexual assault and consent.
On Thursday of last week, Hochul appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James as the special prosecutor to lead the investigation into the rape allegations
More public protests in Ithaca are scheduled over the next few weeks.
