Editor’s Note: Below is an edited version of a statement issued by the Cornell chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
The Cornell AAUP Chapter — representing faculty, researchers, librarians, instructors — is outraged by the sexual violence that was allegedly committed at Chi Phi in October 2024. We call for the community to come together on Monday, Oct. 5 at 4:30 p.m. on Ho Plaza, to stand in support of the survivors of sexual violence.
We are outraged by the continued culture of misogyny and by the continued pervasiveness of violence against women at Cornell and at universities and colleges across the country. We are outraged that so many women at Cornell have reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact.
We are deeply disturbed by Cornell University administration’s response and communications to the community, initially in 2024 and now. Cornell administrators point community members to resources, but do not exercise leadership in creating space to process the harm, the outrage and to change the culture of misogyny. In moments of crisis such as this, we need leaders, not administrators.
The Cornell administration’s responses reveal its failure to understand and respond appropriately to actual harm and threats to safety on campus. It has used its internal communications to issue elaborate accusations, and it has imposed excessive discipline against students for political protests where there was no threat of harm or violence. And yet, when it comes to sexual violence, Cornell’s communications have been oblique or silent, leaving the community frustrated, fearful or angry about the administration’s lack of transparency about how it will take effective responses.
We stand in solidarity with victims of sexual violence. We are outraged by the treatment of Jane Doe. We stand in solidarity with student organizations who have been demanding better, with faculty, staff and students who have been organizing spaces to process and demand change. News reports continue to reveal the way that the Cornell University Police Department not only egregiously mishandled, but omitted vital evidence to the Tompkins County District Attorney. This is the most recent example of the systemic failure of Cornell to protect its community — from patients at Weill Cornell to Cornell students — from sexual violence. This system must change.
We urge the community to attend the rally on Ho Plaza, on Monday, Oct. 5, at 4:30 p.m. We urge the community to keep coming together in the weeks and months and years ahead, as we work together to hold our institutions accountable and to eradicate the culture of misogyny and violence.
The Cornell Chapter of the American Association of University Professors is an inclusive and broad based association of teachers and researchers at Cornell, committed to academic freedom, shared governance and education for all. Their president can be contacted at dab465@cornell.edu.
