Lawyer for Cornell accuser says university doctor was ‘yet another failure’

The documents from the university’s Title IX review provide the most detailed account yet into the three weeks after Doe was allegedly assaulted and made the decision to report to the university. Title IX is a federal civil rights law mandating that universities follow certain rules when investigating sexual assaults.

The morning after the alleged assault, when Doe returned to her sorority house, she told her two roommates she had done drugs and had sex with multiple men, but did not yet use the word “rape” or “assault”, according to the roommates.

She appeared to be “in shock” and “not really understanding the gravity of what she was saying”, a roommate said, according to the documents the New York Times obtained.

The review also included Doe’s text exchanges with one of the men accused of assault, who apologised to her after the alleged rape.

“I just wanted to apologize for how things went down the other night,” he wrote. He said he and other men accused of assault felt awful for being too intoxicated to “shut it down and kick people out before it got way out of hand”.

Her roommate told the university that as time went on, Doe “kind of came to realise that it was something bad. And that she didn’t really enjoy her time there”.

On 3 November, Doe texted one of the men accused of assault and told him, “let’s be clear that 90% of what happened that night was not consensual. i was given more key than i can remember,” she said, using a shorthand for ketamine.

“I know that i told u i felt uncomfortable and i didn’t know anyone in the room,” the text messages included in the document read.

Later, at the Title IX interview, she said she felt “100 percent” confident that she was raped, remarks her attorney confirmed to the BBC.

Doe went to get a rape kit on 7 November, three weeks after the alleged assault took place, but no DNA evidence was recovered, her lawyer said.

Giuffra said that if she had received a rape kit in October when she went to see the university doctor, it is likely there would have been DNA evidence.

The lawyer said the messages and other interviews from the investigation show that “Ms Doe’s internal processing went from denial, to shame and ultimately acceptance that she had been raped by people that she thought were her friends”.

“Her reactions were a textbook reaction to trauma,” he added.

At the sprawling university tucked away in upstate New York, the tension on campus is palpable.

The BBC spoke to students and a faculty member at Cornell, all of whom asked to remain anonymous. Many others were reluctant and very uncomfortable to speak about the incident.

One female student, who is now a senior and was on campus in 2024, recalled how hard it was living there at the time, particularly as rumours began spreading about Doe.

Now, two years later, she told the BBC how she and her friends felt “overwhelmed” and “disappointed”, comparing the atmosphere on campus to a “dark cloud”. Cornell, she believes, mishandled the situation.

A faculty member also called the mood “dismal”.

Staff were not trained therapists so it was hard to know how to navigate a moment like this, she said, and many of her colleagues felt at a loss for words.

“I just don’t understand.”

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