Editor’s note: This article references sexual violence.
More than 20 student organizations are working together to host an open town hall to talk about “sexual violence, accountability, and student safety at Cornell” at Willard Straight Hall at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
The town hall, organized by organizations including Planned Parenthood Generation Action, Wanawake Wa Wari Cooperative and the American Civil Liberties Union Chapter at Cornell and co-sponsored by the Department of Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies, addresses the 2024 alleged Chi Phi gang rape.
The event comes after a former Cornell student, identified as Jane Doe, filed a Sept. 14 lawsuit alleging that she was sexually assaulted and gang raped after being coerced into consuming drugs at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024. The case, and conversations of how it was handled, have led to national uproar.
“Cornell students, we’re coming together,” the caption of the post, written by PPGA, states. “Come with your voice. Come with your questions. Come ready to build what comes next.”
The town hall is set to take place just one day after a “Justice for Survivors” rally, also hosted by a number of student organizations including Students for a Democratic Cornell and Cornell ACLU, drew thousands to Ho Plaza.
The town hall will include a legal presentation explaining Jane Doe’s case, an open forum for students to share their experiences and an opportunity for students to make posters for Zero Day, a student-organized sit-in and economic blackout planned for Wednesday.
The idea for the town hall came from Alysha Adusei ’27, vice president of WARI, a co-op that aims to create a safe space for Black women. After Adusei read the lawsuit filed by Jane Doe, she felt that Doe had been “failed” by the University, she wrote in a statement to The Sun.
“The institution has failed Black women before, and students have refused to stay silent,” Adusei wrote. “As WARI women, we will not stay silent for Jane Doe.”
After developing the idea for a town hall, Adusei contacted the presidents of other Black women’s organizations, Les Femmes de Substance, Black Women’s Support Network and Building Ourselves through Sisterhood and Service. Later in the planning process, the event grew to include other organizations including Women Leaders of Color, Black Students United, and Cornell ACLU.
“I want the Town Hall to be a space where students who have felt unsafe or unheard can share their stories and know they aren't alone,” Adusei wrote.
Jonathan Lam ’27, president of Cornell ACLU, similarly told The Sun that he hopes this town hall will “provide [a] safe space for students to express themselves.”
Adusei’s town hall follows a public hearing on sexual violence hosted by the Student Assembly, which offered students a space to share their thoughts and experiences relating to the alleged Chi Phi gang rape.
The Assembly’s hearing was attended by international media outlets including The New York Times, CNN and BBC, who interviewed students who spoke at the event. Lam shared that for the Tuesday event, he intended for “media [not] to play a huge role,” which would allow students to feel more free to share their thoughts.
Lam told The Sun that Cornell ACLU is in full support of a list of five demands created by SDC, which include the expulsion or revocation of degrees of all perpetrators in Jane Doe’s case, compliance with New York’s “Enough is Enough” law and the revision of Cornell’s Policy 6.4, which addresses sexual misconduct on campus.
Both Lam and Adusei told The Sun that they hope the University will notice the initiatives students are taking and listen to their demands.
“The Town Hall isn’t the end point; it leads directly into the Zero Day Blackout, and I want students to walk out of that room ready to act,” Adusei wrote.
Giselle Redmond is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is an assistant news editor for the 144th Editorial Board and can be reached at gredmond@cornellsun.com.
