NEW YORK state prosecutors have reopened an investigation into the alleged 2024 gang rape of a Cornell University student, following a civil lawsuit the woman filed last month that accuses several members of a campus fraternity of drugging and sexually assaulting her.

The case has triggered public outcry and raised questions about how law enforcement and the university initially responded after the woman, who was 20 at the time, reported the incident to police a few weeks after it occurred.

Here is what we know:

What the woman says happened

The alleged victim, identified in court papers under the pseudonym Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit in New York in mid-September naming seven fraternity members, the Chi Phi fraternity, Cornell University, a local bar, and her own sority as defendants. Civil lawsuits are separate from criminal prosecutions, which are brought by the state rather than by a private plaintiff.

According to the lawsuit, she went to meet a friend at the Chi Phi fraternity house on October 19, 2024, after drinking earlier in the evening. The friend, a member of the fraternity, and other members plied her with alcohol, marijuana, and ketamine — an anesthetic that can cause hallucinogenic effects — and sexually assaulted her after she became incapacitated, the suit alleges.

The complaint includes a screenshot of a group text chain among several fraternity members in which one man crudely encouraged others to join in the sexual activity.

What prosecutors have said

On Monday, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said his office had reopened the case and would present evidence, including testimony from the woman, to a grand jury for possible indictment. Grand juries in New York hear evidence presented by prosecutors in closed proceedings and decide whether it is sufficient to support criminal charges.

Van Houten acknowledged the public outcry that followed the civil lawsuit and referred to “additional evidence,” though he did not provide details.

He also offered a lengthy explanation for why prosecutors did not pursue criminal charges in 2024. The woman's sworn statement to police, he said, “described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”

Prosecutors' decision was driven at least in part by New York's narrowly tailored sexual assault law. Under the statute, it can be harder to bring rape charges in cases where the victim willingly consumed alcohol or drugs. Several New York lawmakers this week renewed a years-long push to rewrite state statutes to eliminate that distinction, arguing that it creates a potential loophole allowing rapists to avoid prosecution.

Jane Doe's lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, has criticized prosecutors for failing to investigate further at the time, and has told news outlets that the district attorney's office never spoke to his client before declining to bring charges.

What has emerged about the initial investigation

In recent days, several new reports have shed light on what law enforcement knew in 2024.

CBS New York obtained a copy of the transcript of Jane Doe's interview with police, which contained far more detail than the sworn statement police eventually provided to prosecutors.

“I can say with 100% confidence I was raped,” she told police in mid-November, several weeks after the incident. That assertion was not included in the shorter written statement on which Van Houten's office relied when deciding whether to pursue charges.

The New York Times obtained more than 1,000 pages of material from Cornell's internal investigation into the incident. The documents show that the woman's understanding of the event shifted over time, the newspaper reported; she told police it took some time for her to fully realize she had been gang-raped.

What the university has said

Cornell has defended its handling of the matter, saying it launched a comprehensive investigation and barred the Chi Phi chapter from campus, where it remains closed. The school imposed a range of discipline on the fraternity members, including expulsions and other sanctions.

The lawsuit claims Cornell failed to adequately punish the alleged perpetrators and offered some of them a chance to mitigate their penalties by writing essays.

On Wednesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Cornell had agreed to hire an outside law firm to conduct a new investigation.

What the fraternity has said

Trey Robb, interim executive director of the national Chi Phi fraternity, said in a statement on Wednesday that the Cornell chapter had expelled members understood to have been involved in the incident, as did the national fraternity.

“These actions went beyond anything the law or Cornell University required of us,” Robb said.

What the accused members have said

The New York Times, citing Cornell's internal documents, reported that the men all denied any wrongdoing and told school investigators the sex was consensual. In some comments, however, the men expressed unease or concern about the interaction, the Times reported.

— Reuters