Cornell Faculty Senate preps for no confidence vote on president after Jane Doe’s allegations: What to know

The Cornell University Faculty Senate is set to debate a no confidence vote on Wednesday against President Michael Kotlikoff after allegations of a 2024 gang rape at a campus fraternity that resulted in no criminal charges caused uproar around the country.

The more than 75 members of the body will have their second meeting debating the resolution and the timing of a vote on it. A motion could be introduced to delay the no confidence vote and set another meeting.

But if that motion is not introduced or fails, members of the Faculty Senate will begin the no confidence vote after Wednesday’s meeting is over, and they typically have a week to cast their choice online.

While a no confidence vote has no authority to remove an official, its passing would show deep dissatisfaction from faculty with how Cornell leadership has handled accusations from Jane Doe that seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity raped her .

What does the no confidence vote entail?

The resolution, led by Paul Ortiz, a professor of labor history, states the faculty has no confidence in Cornell’s leadership to “address the ongoing crisis of sexual assault” at the school.

“The faculty co-sponsors of this resolution deliberated at great length on this resolution. As you may suspect, we were approached in our capacity as faculty senators by numerous Cornell colleagues demanding action. Many of these faculty — including myself — were approached by students at Cornell who are upset, fearful for their personal safety, and wanting our university to address the perennial problem of sexual assault on the campus,” the statement to the University Faculty Committee when the resolution was proposed.

“Cornell alumni, some of whom have shared their own traumatic stories as students, have also contacted faculty to share their frustrations about this matter. This is certainly a consequential moment in time for our campus!” the statement added.

The Wednesday meeting will be the second time the Faculty Senate met to address the matter.

The measure’s success would spell more trouble internally for Cornell’s administration, although the group does not have the authority to oust the president.

In an interview with The New York Times , Kotlikoff said his administration has a fuller picture of the incident now, compared with when Doe originally reported it in 2024.

“The fact that Jane Doe experienced what she experienced at Cornell is something that I am personally sorry for,” Kotlikoff told the Times. “And I think this entire campus is sorry that occurred.”

“I do think it’s important to understand we have more information now than we had at that time,” he added at another point in the interview.

Kotlikoff admitted he did not reach out to the then-student after he learned of the alleged assault in 2024.

Jane Doe said she felt “unsupported and disbelieved” by Kotlikoff in a letter she shared to the Faculty Senate earlier this month.

The letter detailed a conversation Kotlikoff had with Doe’s sorority president about the incident in 2024.

“After the conversation she shared with me, with concern, that President Kotlikoff’s initial response was along the lines of, ‘Why did she wait so long to report it?’” Jane Doe wrote in the letter. “She interpreted his question as an expression of doubt in the veracity of my story.”

Doe filed a lawsuit against the university, the men she says were involved, the fraternity, her sorority and the bar that served her alcohol that night.

The lawsuit alleges she was coerced into drugs and alcohol before she was raped over several hours.

It also includes a screenshot from an alleged group chat among the fraternity brothers that showed one member messaging “free p‑‑‑‑ upstairs” during the alleged assault.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has assigned state Attorney General Letitia James (D) to investigate the matter.

At least two of the accused men are petitioning the court to remove James from the case due to a Facebook post she made before she was appointed that showed support for Doe.

At Cornell, parties have been suspended for the rest of the academic year, and the institution is adding more positions to handle sexual assault allegations on campus.