Doe and Cornell dispute account of president’s question

Jane Doe told Cornell faculty leaders that she felt unsupported and disbelieved after hearing that university President Michael Kotlikoff had questioned why she waited to report an alleged sexual assault. Cornell disputes that account, saying the question concerned bystanders and not Doe. The Faculty Senate is scheduled to resume debate on a no-confidence resolution on October 28, followed by an electronic vote. Doe, a former Cornell student identified by a pseudonym in court documents, described the exchange in an October 14 letter. She said her sorority’s president told her that Kotlikoff had asked, in substance, why she waited so long to report the assault. Doe acknowledged that her account of the conversation was secondhand and said the sorority president interpreted the question as casting doubt on her account. Doe wrote that learning of the comment diminished her confidence in the administration’s ability to respond to her experience with sensitivity and fairness. She said she sent the letter to inform faculty members as they considered the resolution, not to direct how they should vote. Cornell said Doe’s description was incorrect, based on what the university called a...