Snapchat Photo Shared the Night of Alleged Cornell Assault

A photo of a woman identified as Jane Doe was passed around a Snapchat group of Chi Phi brothers on the night she says she was raped at the Cornell fraternity house in October 2024.

The image, obtained through her attorney, shows her appearing to smile beside another man. Just before it was sent, one man wrote, “Like you can walk in and whip it out.” Right after, someone asked, “Shop still open?” and another answered, “Yeah.”

Jane Doe, then 20, has sued seven Cornell students and the university. She said the night turned into horror, that she felt “cornered” and “was a sex doll for all intents and purposes.” She said two of the men ushered her into a closet. “It was just raping,” she said. She reported being in and out of consciousness.

She told a Title IX inquiry she had taken ketamine and that it felt like “the lights are on, but nobody’s home. Your brain is not functioning at its proper level.” She said she “felt like bait” and “felt like lions around me.”

Some of the accused said she did not appear intoxicated and that she consented. Two have denied responsibility through lawyers. Others have not commented. A student at the house said one of the men called the next day and asked her to make sure a friend did not “say anything that she thinks might’ve happened last night.” Jane Doe said three men apologized in the days after. She kept the dress she wore.

Two days later she went to a campus clinic for a urinary tract infection and, according to her lawsuit, told doctors it was contracted in a “traumatic way.” She says she was told to “speak with somebody” and was not referred for a rape kit.

Cornell’s Title IX hearing was in May 2025. President Michael I. Kotlikoff later said two of the accused were expelled, two were suspended for at least two semesters, one had already graduated, and two were found not responsible. No one was arrested. The chapter was shut down in 2024.

The Tompkins County district attorney declined charges, then said the case would be reopened after the lawsuit. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor amid criticism of how the case was handled. At a student town hall, Jane Wang said, “Survivors need to know that when they come forward with their stories, somebody will listen and a broader institution will act upon it. Through this event, we have witnessed the complete opposite.”