Cornell Faculty Senate introduces no-confidence resolution over handling of alleged 2024 sexual assault

ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell University faculty members introduced a resolution calling for a no-confidence vote in the university administration’s handling of the alleged 2024 sexual assault at a fraternity house.

The resolution was submitted to the University Faculty Committee on Monday evening, according to a copy obtained by NBC News.

“That the Faculty Senate has no confidence in the ability of the central administration to effectively address the ongoing crisis of sexual assault at Cornell University,” says the resolution, which is less than half a page.

The measure is expected to be considered by the Faculty Senate, which meets Oct. 14, Faculty Senate member Paul Ortiz said in a statement.

Ortiz said in an interview: “My primary job as an educator is to make sure my students are studying and learning in a safe environment. If they don’t feel safe, they can’t learn, they can’t study, they can’t thrive, they can’t grow as individual human beings.”

Ortiz added that there is a “climate of fear among women students.” He emphasized that the Senate’s goal is to force “systemic change” rather than advocate to have one or two people, such as university President Michael Kotlikoff, step down.

You get “rid of one person, and then you bring a new person into a dysfunctional environment,” Ortiz said.

“A lot of the students would like the president to step down, but we decided not to have that in the resolution,” he added.

In a statement accompanying the resolution, the faculty sponsors said “numerous Cornell colleagues” had approached them demanding action, while students had told faculty members they were “upset [and] fearful for their personal safety” and wanted the Ivy League school to address sexual assault on campus.

Cornell alumni had also contacted faculty members and shared “their own traumatic stories as students,” the statement said.

Cornell declined to comment.

The proposed no-confidence resolution escalates the pressure on Cornell and its administration following national scrutiny over how the case was handled. Last month, a former student identified as Jane Doe sued the university and seven current and former students in connection with her allegation of sexual assault.

She alleges that multiple fraternity members sexually assaulted her in October 2024 while she was impaired by alcohol, ketamine and marijuana.

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The woman’s allegations have made national headlines for days, and they prompted protests on campus following widespread criticism that the university and local officials did not do enough to investigate them.

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Anne Marie Elizabeth Brady, a Faculty Senate member and research director for the university’s Industrial and Labor Relations Workers Institute, said the resolution came together “quickly” in recent days.

“If I was a woman on Cornell’s campus, I’d run in the other direction,” she said. “Because I’m not sure Cornell is there to protect the students the way they should be.”

Brady said Cornell’s decision to discipline the seven men accused of wrongdoing instead of passing the case on to outside law enforcement “feels like a cover-up to me.”

“If I’m a betting woman, I suspect they didn’t do that because they wanted to keep it secret,” she said. “They wanted to manage the story.”

If the Faculty Senate passes the resolution, Brady said, it will then prompt a series of discussions between faculty members and Cornell’s leadership for policies about sexual assault.

Similar action was taken last year following years of campus protests of the war in Gaza. Brady said those recommendations have largely been ignored.

“If the administration came out and said: ‘You know what? We screwed up, we did A, B and C wrong. We failed this student, we failed all our students through this process and these are the concrete ways and steps we are going to take to change,’” she said, “if they did that? That goes so far.”

Adam Reiss and Maggie Vespa reported from Ithaca and Matt Lavietes from New York City.