ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell’s president told his own faculty on Wednesday night that fraternities may have to go for good, then spent about 45 minutes answering colleagues who say they no longer trust his administration to confront sexual assault.
President Michael Kotlikoff said at the start of the closed Faculty Senate meeting that he appreciated “the sentiment of a lot of faculty and a lot of leadership of the university that have said to me it’s time for Greek life to go.” If fraternities “cannot exist in a safe environment and we can’t be convinced that they can be safe,” he said, “then we should make that decision,” but “based on data and study and expertise, not on emotion.” A day earlier, the university had announced that Cornell fraternity parties are suspended through the academic year.
Social life has moved into private houses, he said. “We don’t have full ability to be confident that what goes on in those houses is safe.” The backdrop is the Cornell Jane Doe case: a civil lawsuit alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted by multiple men at a fraternity house in 2024. The accused have denied it, CBS News reported, and none has been charged.
The senators were debating a resolution that, CBS News reported, declares the Faculty Senate “has no confidence in the ability of the central administration to effectively address the ongoing crisis of sexual assault at Cornell University.” It needs a simple majority and is largely symbolic, because the Senate cannot fire anyone in the administration.
Risa Lieberwitz, a labor law professor who relayed the closed session, said Kotlikoff “really did not answer questions” and “really didn’t take responsibility or accountability for problems that we have.” Pressed on why it took “a long time” to speak about the lawsuit, Kotlikoff said, “I really reject the idea that I had no interest in it or was not concerned about it.”
The room was split. A smaller group, largely from the math and physics departments, wanted “more information or data,” associate professor Ariana Kim said, but Paul Ortiz, the resolution’s lead sponsor, said that if it were put to a vote that day, “the resolution would pass.” The Senate meets again Oct. 28, and a vote follows.
CBS News New York obtained video despite a camera ban. Cornell released audio early Thursday; the quotes here come from CBS’s reporting, not a recording this newsroom has heard.
In the footage, a speaker asks how far back outside investigators will look. The review, led by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, is examining “how the University prevents and responds to sexual harassment, sexual assault and related misconduct on campus,” Cornell University said. Kotlikoff replied that he does not dictate it and does not “know how far back they’re going to go, frankly.” Nothing reviewed says what evidence would end Greek life, or who would weigh it.
