Cornell faculty declares no confidence in university leaders over handling of sexual abuse case

The former student, who is identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe in court documents, alleged in her civil complaint that Cornell failed to protect her from being raped.

Cornell University's faculty senate approved a resolution of no confidence on Friday in the administration's ability to handle what it has called a sexual assault crisis, after a former student sued the university for not protecting her from an alleged 2024 gang rape.

The resolution, which 55.6% of elected faculty senators who cast votes supported, is a condemnation of Cornell's leadership from its major legislative and advisory body, but has no concrete consequences. The tally showed 37% voted against it and 7.4% abstained, Cornell University spokesperson Rebecca Valli said.

"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," the resolution said.

The former student, who is identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe in court documents, alleged in her civil complaint that Cornell failed to protect her from being raped.

Her lawsuit, filed in September, has also drawn criticism of the university's handling of the case in 2024. Cornell, located in Ithaca, New York, said it conducted a comprehensive investigation and imposed disciplinary measures, including expulsions.

Board supports president, administration

In response to the resolution, Cornell University Board Chair Anne Smalling expressed the board of trustees' support for University President Michael Kotlikoff and the administration.

"Today’s Faculty Senate vote reflects the deep anger across our campus and sends a clear signal that what happened to Jane Doe is unacceptable," the statement said. "We support President Kotlikoff’s commitment to taking all necessary steps to ensure students are safe on campus and working together as a community to help prevent this from happening again."

Kotlikoff has not responded to the university about the vote outcome, Valli, the university spokesperson, said. Under university procedures, the president has 30 days to respond in writing, she said.

Kotlikoff said the day before voting began on October 29 that faculty discussion and debate were "an important component of Cornell’s shared governance" and that the university had taken measures including adding staff to its civil rights office, expanding sexual assault prevention education, and hiring staff focused on victim advocacy.

Cornell faculty sees systemic failure in how incident was handled 

Cornell faculty senator Risa Lieberwitz, who co-sponsored the resolution, has said the administration failed to address the sexual assault problem in a systemic way during the more than a decade Kotlikoff has served in senior leadership. Kotlikoff has been Cornell president since March last year.

"Students, faculty, and staff have lost trust that sexual assault cases will be handled properly," Lieberwitz said in an online discussion of the resolution on the Cornell website in late October. "This will have a chilling effect on reporting, creating fear that reporting sexual assault to this administration will be ineffective and even damaging."

Dean of Faculty Chris Schaffer had previously said in a post that he opposed the resolution because it did not "articulate the specific failures underlying its judgment or the consequences it seeks."

"When we make a judgment this consequential, we should state clearly what has failed and what we expect to change," he wrote. "This resolution falls short of that standard."

In a separate post ahead of the vote, Schaffer said that passage of a no-confidence resolution would result in "no binding consequence."