How Title IX investigations work and why experts say the system failed Cornell’s Jane Doe

By Ray Sanchez, CNN

(CNN) — The 18-year-old, now known as Jane Doe, flew across the country four years ago to Cornell University, where a civil complaint says she was immediately taken by the glorified façade of Greek life on campus and “promises of sisterhood and lifelong friendships.”

She was full of hope and expectations over the rite of passage journey more than 1,000 miles from her family home, and she says she did not know of numerous reports of sexual assault and rape at the Ithaca, New York, campus, according to the complaint.

That fall, allegations of sexual assault at a fraternity house and drug-laced drinks at off-campus locations led to student protests calling for a ban on Greek life and institutional reforms such as anti-sexual violence training for Greek-affiliated students. Amid the uproar, Cornell said it was “outraged and saddened” by the reports while fraternity parties and social events were temporarily suspended, a time intended for fraternity leaders to “implement stronger health and safety plans.”

Now, Doe’s allegations that she was gang-raped at a campus fraternity house in 2024 have cast a harsh glare on Cornell and its handling of Title IX.

Faculty members are pressing university leadership as former US Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates leads an independent review of how the school prevents and responds to sexual misconduct, including “whether Cornell followed its policies and procedures in responding to” sexual assault allegations brought by Doe.

Cornell’s Faculty Senate will meet Wednesday to continue deliberations on a proposed vote of no confidence in the administration over its handling of Doe’s allegations.

Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff acknowledged in a video posted October 3 the university needs to improve how it handles sexual misconduct.

“We don’t have all the answers, but we are committed to investigating and finding the answers our community deserves,” Kotlikoff said.

The case has prompted a reopening of a criminal investigation into Doe’s claims and a re-examination of how universities across the US handle allegations of sexual assault.

Here’s what we know about how Cornell investigated Doe’s allegations and how the Title IX process is supposed to work.

How does a Title IX investigation begin?

More than half a century after Title IX was enacted, its practical execution is both intricate and complex.

The landmark federal civil rights statute aims to ensure students have equal access to opportunities regardless of their sex. It bans discrimination based on sex and governs how schools respond to complaints of sexual misconduct in federal education programs.

However, just what is covered and how schools should adjudicate claims has whipsawed. During his administration, President Barack Obama established more expansive protections for student survivors of sexual violence, a stance embraced by President Joe Biden as well. But President Donald Trump’s Education Department has seen things differently, narrowing categories of protection for survivors and expanding protections for students accused.

Doe’s case demonstrates just how complex Title IX cases are, even under the more protective policies afforded to accusers by past presidential administrations.

Schools navigate an administrative and legal minefield when handling Title IX complaints, experts say, because the statute sits at a precarious intersection where federal nondiscrimination mandates converge with state criminal and civil laws.

A Title IX investigation begins when a school receives a formal complaint about a possible violation, including a campus sex assault, stalking, abuse in athletics or sexual harassment, experts say.

Once a Title IX coordinator reviews it, the parties involved are notified of the complaint and informed how the process works.

The accused must be informed of the charges against them. And the two parties are allowed to have people assigned to assist them throughout the procedures, allowing each side an opportunity to tell their story, present evidence and cross examine the accuser, the accused, as well as witnesses.

Doe reported the alleged assault to Cornell police on November 8, 2024. The same day, the suit says, the university’s chapter of the Chi Phi Xi fraternity was placed on temporary suspension for alleged violations of the student code of conduct.

When Doe spoke with Cornell police on November 14 and 15, a campus police investigator led the questioning, with a Title IX investigator, a victim advocate and Doe’s adviser also reportedly in the room for the first day of the interview, CNN affiliate WCBS reported.

Doe signed a statement compiled by Cornell police based on her interview, but it did not include Doe’s direct accusation of rape that appears in the transcript of the interview. CNN has not seen the transcript and has asked Cornell for a copy but has not heard back.

The six-page statement was the only document initially provided to Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten by the police department, he said after the lawsuit was filed. He made the decision to not file any charges based on the statement, he said in a news release last month, because it “did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped.”

“This case serves as an illustration of both the ways that a school can fail students, but also the way that the criminal-legal system can simultaneously fail students,” Alexandra Brodsky, litigation director of the Public Justice’s Students’ Civil Rights Project, said about prosecutors not receiving the full transcript of Doe’s interview.

It wasn’t until January 2025, the lawsuit says, when the university opened its formal investigation under Title IX in response to Doe’s allegations. CNN has not seen the Title IX filings, which are generally confidential and restricted to the parties involved.

“This survivor basically did exactly what we generally expect survivors to do, which is write things down, go to the police quickly after the assault … but it still wasn’t enough,” said attorney Carolin Guentert, who has represented accusers in Title IX cases involving sexual assault allegations.

Cornell previously said it had turned over all investigative information to the district attorney but has since said it only shared the victim’s sworn statement and Snapchat screenshot of messages from the night of the incident with the prosecutor.

The university has not responded to CNN’s questions about why the full transcript of Jane Doe’s police interview, which included Doe’s explicit rape accusation, was not included in the statement prepared by police for the DA.

In an October 14 letter to two senior faculty members, Doe said she felt “unsupported and disbelieved” by Kotlikoff shortly after she reported her alleged sexual assault. The letter was sent as Cornell’s Faculty Senate met to begin deliberations on a vote of no confidence.

After Doe reported the alleged assault, the president of her sorority spoke with Kotlikoff, who Doe said asked her something “along the lines of, ‘Why did she wait so long to report it?’” according to a copy of the letter obtained by CNN.

The sorority president “interpreted his question as an expression of doubt in the veracity of my story,” according to Doe’s letter, which acknowledged the information is from “a second-hand account.”

“It diminished my confidence in the administration’s ability to approach my experience with the understanding, sensitivity, and fairness I had hoped for and expected from what had been my dream school,” the letter said.

A Cornell spokesperson has disputed that account, telling CNN the question of “why did it take so long for the assault to be reported” was directed at bystanders who had not used Cornell’s anonymous tip line, rather than questioning Doe’s reporting.

‘Resource-intensive, time-consuming’ investigations

The Title IX investigative process involves gathering evidence — such as separate interviews, digital communications, and official records — which both parties review before a final report is prepared.

CNN obtained a copy of a heavily redacted, 99-page document summarizing key evidence included in a Cornell disciplinary panel’s decision. The decision details more than 50 interviews, including with six of the seven accused men – none of whom has been charged with a crime.

The men named in the lawsuit have denied any wrongdoing.

Title IX is currently enforced under regulations implemented in 2020, which after the initial investigation, require a live hearing and cross-examination by a representative of the accused.

“You really have to picture a mini trial, except it’s being done by decision makers at the school,” Guentert said. “Often, that tends to be faculty or staff. Sometimes it’s people who are hired by the university and brought onto campus to run these hearings. It really is, in a way, its own justice system.”

Beth Gellman-Beer, an attorney who worked for nearly 20 years at the US Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, said Title IX proceedings carefully consider the rights of both the complainants and the accused.

“The whole point, not that it necessarily results in that outcome, but the intention is: This process provides due process to both parties,” Gellman-Beer said.

“Making sure that due process is implemented requires time. These investigations are resource-intensive, time-consuming,” Gellman-Beer added.

What are the outcomes of a Title IX investigation?

Overall, university investigations have a lower standard of proof and evidence than the criminal justice system.

Most schools use the “preponderance of the evidence” standard to determine if the violation was more likely than not to have occurred, though some use a higher “clear and convincing” standard, experts said.

If a violation is found, schools can impose sanctions up to suspension or expulsion, and both parties have the right to appeal.

A “range of sanctions,” including expulsions and suspensions, came after Cornell conducted a formal Title IX investigation, separate from the criminal proceeding, and a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days, the university said.

The university has declined to confirm individual disciplinary outcomes, citing federal student privacy law.

Doe’s attorney Thomas P. Giuffra has said Cornell expelled two of the seven accused students while the others received lesser punishment, including suspensions, workshops or written assignments.

Cornell has countered that claim, saying “none of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement,” the university said.

“Any suggestion that the University did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” Cornell said in a statement. “A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault.”

A CNN review of Cornell records found that nearly half of students found responsible for sexual assault in recent years were punished with extra study programs and written reprimands, but avoided suspension or expulsion.

Just two Cornell students were expelled after being found responsible for sexual assault between mid-2020 and mid-2024, according to the most recent data released by the university. In all, Cornell reviewed 51 formal complaints about sexual assault in that time frame and found students responsible in 16 cases.

A Cornell spokesperson told CNN the university takes sexual misconduct allegations “extremely seriously.” It “investigates reports through established processes, providing support and resources to those who come forward,” the spokesperson said in a statement, also noting the university has expanded its in-person sexual violence prevention education to all first-year students.

The Chi Phi chapter was banned from campus in 2024 and a Cornell task force addressing sexual assault issued a final report earlier this year.

The task force found the rates of sexual assault at Cornell “remain persistently high” even after having “a long history of actions to address” it. The report pointed to a 2025 survey showing an increase in reports of female undergraduate students experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact, compared to 2023.

Alcohol played a role in more than half of reported cases, and more than half of Greek-affiliated undergraduate women reported being sexually assaulted, according to the survey findings.

“One consistent theme we heard was a need for increased knowledge about the various reporting and support options available after a sexual assault has occurred,” the task force said in its report.

Schools are required to offer other support

Beyond investigating complaints, Title IX coordinators should offer accusers supportive measures such changes in housing or stay-away orders to prevent them from encountering the alleged perpetrators on campus, according to experts.

The statute requires the Title IX coordinator to promptly contact the complainant to discuss available supportive measures, even if a formal complaint isn’t filed.

“Even if the school can’t or won’t investigate, even if they investigate and they don’t find that the respondent is responsible, Title IX allows the school to explore other supportive measures to help that victim access the educational environment – like a no contact order, a safety plan, a change in housing,” Gellman-Beer said.

But Doe remained on campus after the university declined to refund her tuition, Giuffra said of his client.

“She wanted to leave the university and go home and heal,” Giuffra said.

“She spent an entire semester (on) the campus where she saw these guys on a fairly regular basis. And that is just horrifying to me,” he added, referring to the alleged perpetrators.

CNN has reached out to Cornell for comment on the allegation that Doe was not allowed to withdraw without a financial loss.

Shiwali Patel, a Title IX expert with the National Women’s Law Center, said it’s unclear what support Doe received from the university.

“This paints a picture of what a lot of survivors are experiencing,” Patel said, adding many accusers choose not to report sexual assaults because of the lack of support.

“The power of Title IX really relies on how it is being enforced. The trust that, because it’s being enforced well and it’s enforced consistent with this broad and protective process, that students and employees then trust that they can go to the federal government to enforce their rights if they’re violated,” she added.

Guentert said she hopes the case serves as a watershed of sorts for school administrators, fraternities and sororities, and students and parents.

“Title IX is an incredibly important and very protective law that we have to keep enforcing, but clearly this system isn’t working,” she said.

“It really failed this survivor. I don’t have an answer to what the solution is. But I’m glad this is starting conversations around: Are there better ways of handling it when something like this happens on campus?”

Help is available: For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on online.rainn.org.

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CNN’s Holy, Yan, Gloria Pazmino, Jeff Winter, Kara Scannell, Jason Carroll, Casey Tolan, Isabelle Chapman, Curt Devine, Blake Ellis, Audrey Ash, Melanie Hicken, Karina Tsui, Emma Lacey-Bordeaux, Hanna Park, Dany Gainor and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.