Editor’s note: This article references sexual assault.
Several hundred protesters gathered in the Ithaca Commons on Tuesday afternoon to rally behind Jane Doe — the former Cornell student who filed a lawsuit alleging that she was gang raped at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024.
At the rally, approximately 15 speakers took the stage, where they shared a letter from Jane Doe, discussed national and New York State sexual assault law, shared their own experiences as survivors of sexual assault and voiced support for Jane Doe.
Many attendees and speakers hailed from Cornell and the Ithaca community, while others arrived from other states and countries to show support.
The rally — titled “I am Jane Doe” — comes amid national uproar surrounding the alleged 2024 Chi Phi gang rape and concerns over Cornell’s handling of the allegations.
Thousands also attended a “Justice for Survivors” rally on Cornell’s campus on Oct. 6, expressing solidarity with Jane Doe and survivors of sexual assault and frustration with the Univeristy’s handling of the Chi Phi case.
At the beginning of the Ithaca Commons rally, Ray Epstein, one of the organizers, shared a letter written by Jane Doe which addressed the thousands of protesters who participated in the Oct. 6 rally.
“Thank you for turning your belief into action,” Ray Epstein said, reading Doe’s letter. “Thank you for recognizing the countless difficulties and obstacles that come with being Jane and demanding that the systems that so often fail us can do better. Thank you for giving me hope in the courageous Cornell student body. Please continue to make your voice heard with conviction, compassion and peace.”
Hundreds of protestors march through the Ithaca Commons in support of Jane Doe.
The rally was organized by activists, primarily based in New York, who work to promote sex education and sexual assault preventions. The organizers found each other on Instagram and “got together naturally,” Samara Ferris, one of the organizers, told The Sun.
“None of us had met until today,” Ferris told The Sun. “We did not know each other .… We just came together organically over our rage and desire to change things.”
Throughout the event, speakers discussed Title IX and a provision of New York State penal law that creates a “voluntary intoxication loophole.”
The “loophole” refers to the definition of mental incapacitation under New York State penal law, where a person is only considered unable to consent due to “mental incapacitation” if under the influence of a substance administered “without his consent.”
“If you’re a survivor who chose to drink, the door to justice has slammed in your face,” said Lizzie Asher at the rally.
Asher and Minister Peace, co-founders of the Justice without Intoxication Coalition, have been working to reform this law since 2019.
“Let’s demand that our lawmakers make laws that prosecutors can use to make men and rapists and predators accountable,” Asher said. “All day today, we have been talking about changing the system. I want you to know that system is not just at Cornell.”
Finley Muratova, a lead organizer and a Title IX advocate, also expressed frustration at the implementation of school Title IX policies, stating that they “have seen more survivors drop out” than “rapists expelled or even suspended.”
“Colleges don’t really tell you about Title IX more than they have to,” Muratova said. “It is easier for them when survivors don’t know their rights after they’re sexually assaulted on their campus. No reports made means no problems for the school.”
Ray Epstein discussed the need to create systemic changes in universities’ policies, rather than replacing administration or Title IX coordinators.
“Nothing is going to change,” she said, “until we realize that this is a problem systemically across the country because colleges are incentivized as businesses first and learning institutions second.”
Muratova also expressed support for the demands created by over 20 organizations on campus, which include expelling or revoking degrees of all of the seven alleged assaulters named in the lawsuit, implementing mandatory sexual assault trainings for students and establishing trauma-informed trainings for the Cornell University Police Department.
Speakers also expressed hope that the rally and larger movement in response to the Chi Phi case would spark systemic change.
“I hope that this starts a national change for sexual assault survivors in the entire United States, in every campus, in every city, in the government, [Jeffrey] Epstein survivors, everything,” Ferris told The Sun.
Throughout the rally, speakers also addressed the impact that activism has on the movement for sexual assault prevention.
Nigel Tatem ’28 spoke about how, in the span of a few weeks, international attention sparked by the Chi Phi case has led to the appointment of New York State Attorney General Letitia James (D-N.Y.) to lead the criminal investigation of the allegations and an independent review of Cornell’s handling of the case.
“Those involved are being forced to answer and finally take accountability,” Tatem said. “That shows us what speaking up can help make possible, but we should not have to raise hell to get justice. A woman should not need millions of strangers watching before she can trust that her report will be investigated thoroughly and properly.”
Jess Michaels, a survivor of sexual assault by Jeffery Epstein, shared her experience during the drafting and passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act and discussed the need to stand up against sexual assault.
“People are going to say things can’t change, it can’t be done, it’s impossible, [but] that’s a f*cking lie,” Michaels said. “We plan on being in this for the long haul, the beginning of the end.”
Ferris also shared a statement written by Alva Johnson, a staffer in President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign who sued him for sexual assault in 2019. In her statement, Johnson also discussed the impact of activism against sexual assault.
“There is something deeply powerful, almost spiritual, about reclaiming your own voice when others have tried to take it away, about knowing that even when the people entrusted with protecting you failed, you did not abandon yourself,” Ferris said, reading Johnson’s statement. “This is a kind of courage no institution can give you, and no institution can take away.”
Ray Epstein expressed hope for the movement in an interview with The Sun.
“As someone who’s been in the space for 10 years, through ‘Me Too,’ through my own case, through so many other cases, I’ve never seen people come out with this much belief,” Ray Epstein said. “There has never been support like this for someone who is a survivor that I’ve ever witnessed … and I think that that is promising for a better future.”
Coral Platt is a member of the Class of 2029 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a news editor for the 144th Editorial Board and can be reached at cplatt@cornellsun.com.
