Michael Kotlikoff ignored a gang rape and must resign now

By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit · October 14, 2026

Michael Kotlikoff admitted he never followed up on a 2024 fraternity gang rape as students protested, proving university executives protect their brand over student safety.

A $10.7 billion endowment cannot buy a conscience When you grow up in a union household, you learn early that accountability doesn't trickle down. It has to be dragged into the light by people who have nothing left to lose. President Michael Kotlikoff of Cornell University now expects us to accept a nervous apology for a crime he simply decided to ignore. According to The Guardian, Kotlikoff acknowledged he knew a student reported being gang-raped at the Chi Phi fraternity house in November 2024. Yet he never followed up with her in the months that followed. AP News reported that Kotlikoff admitted he never checked on what happened to the student or whether the accused men faced punishment, leaving her to drop out of school entirely before filing a civil lawsuit. This is the moral rot of institutional management. Protect the brand, protect the $10.7 billion endowment, and leave the wounded to bleed out in the dark.

The defense offered by the university's defenders—that decentralized administrations are hard to manage and that complex Title IX tribunals require exhaustive deliberation—collapses under the weight of Cornell's own numbers. CNN reported that Cornell reviewed 51 formal sexual assault complaints and expelled a mere two students. The rest received slaps on the wrist, with multiple perpetrators ordered to write "reflection papers" or do directed study, treating violent sexual assault like a missed homework assignment. Kacey Lee, a former student who reported being assaulted, told CNN that knowing her assailant was punished with a reflection paper felt like being told her pain "just wasn't bad enough." The Michigan State University sexual abuse scandal taught us precisely how this machinery operates. University administration ignores repeated reports of sexual abuse to protect a high-profile program, allowing predators to remain in power while victims are silenced. Just as the Penn State child sexual abuse scandal proved how institutional leadership can ignore reports of sexual violence to protect an institution's image, leaving victims vulnerable and perpetrators protected, Kotlikoff didn't just fail an administrative duty. He operated the gears of a system designed to sweep human devastation under the rug.

Reflection papers are not justice for survivors The details of the horror Jane Doe endured are as grotesque as the institutional indifference that followed. PBS reported that Doe alleged she was pressured into snorting ketamine, smoking marijuana, and drinking alcohol before being gang-raped by seven Chi Phi fraternity members in October 2024. NPR and PBS note that campus police recorded a drug overdose at the Chi Phi house just one day before the assault. Yet the university permitted the fraternity party to proceed unchecked. Thomas Giuffra, Jane Doe’s attorney, told PBS that his client was misled about the criminal investigation while Cornell’s bureaucracy ground away behind closed doors. Meanwhile, NBC News reported that students took over Ho Plaza for a "Justice for Survivors" protest, demanding an end to a culture where wealth and Greek-life privilege shield abusers from real consequences.

The ablest advocate for university leadership might argue that due process must be protected. Campus tribunals must weigh competing narratives, and summary expulsions invite costly lawsuits from accused students. Peter Lake, a Stetson University professor quoted by CNN, claimed that striking a balance is tricky because institutions are pulled by competing legal interests. But this defense treats administrative self-preservation as a moral equivalent to survival. Nicole Bedera, a researcher cited by CNN, rightly countered that expulsion should be the only outcome of a substantiated Title IX case, stating that the best predictor of a safe campus is zero tolerance. When Cornell hands out essays instead of expulsions, it tells every predator on campus that the risk of violating a human being is practically zero.

State power must pierce the ivied walls The time for university committees and internal task forces has long since expired. AP News and Anadolu Agency reported that Kotlikoff announced a ban on fraternity parties for the rest of the academic year. Kotlikoff promised to give state police a role in investigating sex crimes, frantic moves designed to fend off an imminent faculty no-confidence vote. Iris Packman, a Faculty Senate member, told AP News that Kotlikoff got defensive during a contentious meeting and tried to control the narrative while taking zero responsibility. Ariana Kim, associate music professor and co-sponsor of the resolution, called Kotlikoff's lack of follow-up appalling. Yet Kotlikoff signaled he has no intention of resigning voluntarily, clinging to his office even as the faculty prepares to strip him of whatever legitimacy he has left.

Fortunately, accountability is finally arriving from the outside. AP News and The Guardian reported that New York Governor Kathy Hochul removed the local district attorney, who had initially declined to bring criminal charges. Hochul appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor. This intervention utilizes the executive and prosecutorial power of the state against institutional malfeasance, echoing James's formidable record of dismantling corrupt entities. Jennifer Brownell, executive director of the Advocacy Center of Tompkins County, told CNN her gut reaction to Cornell's leniency was fury. That fury belongs in the voting booth, in the faculty senate, and in the courtroom where powerful men who traded student safety for administrative comfort are finally called to account.

Michael Kotlikoff must resign immediately. The Cornell Board of Trustees must surrender its institutional shield to the special prosecutor. Every administrator who traded a survivor's justice for a reflection paper must be stripped of their authority.

Michael Kotlikoff ignored a gang rape and must resign now

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