Cornell Taps Former Obama DOJ Official to Review How it Handles Sexual Misconduct Complaints

Sally Yates

Cornell University has hired a prominent former DOJ official under then-President Barack Obama to review how it handles sexual misconduct complaints in the wake of the nationwide fury over the Cornell 7 case.

The upstate New York school announced the hiring of former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates on Tuesday in a statement. Yates has been in private practice after being brutally fired in the early days of President Donald Trump’s first term.

The heinous allegations of an October 2024 gang rape at a fraternity house at Cornell surfaced after the victim, publicly identified only as Jane Doe, recently sued the school and the seven fraternity brothers she claims assaulted her.

The local prosecutor has been vilified for failing to criminally charge any of the suspects. On Friday. Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed New York State Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor on the case.

“It is imperative that Cornell be willing to examine itself with the same rigor we expect of others,” Cornell Board of Trustees Chair Anne Meinig Smalling said in a statement:

The review will examine Cornell’s policies, practices and resources across the full range of prevention and response, including how reports are received and investigated; how students are supported; how hearings, disciplinary decisions and appeals are handled; the role, processes and response of campus police; coordination with other law enforcement agencies and prosecutors; campus safety reporting; and policies and oversight involving fraternities, sororities and other student organizations. It will also examine the Board’s oversight of these issues.

As part of that broader mandate, Yates and her team will conduct a detailed review of the University’s response to the allegations involving Jane Doe and members of the Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024, including whether Cornell followed its policies and procedures in responding to the matter.

“Sally Yates brings extraordinary experience, independence and judgment to this work,” Meinig Smalling added.

“The questions raised by the Jane Doe matter warrant a rigorous examination of Cornell’s response to that case, but our responsibility is broader.

“We have asked Ms. Yates and her team to examine Cornell’s overall approach to preventing and responding to sexual misconduct, identify where we are doing things well and where we can do better, and recommend changes that will help make our community safer.”

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