University of Oregon receives 5 sexual assault reports in first week of classes amid Cornell ‘gang rape’ fallout
The University of Oregon has received five sexual assault reports in the first week of classes — while an Ivy League school on the other side of the country deals with the fallout of an alleged gang rape that was not prosecuted for years.
A lawsuit filed last month by a former Cornell University student who goes by Jane Doe, alleging that she was drugged and gang-raped by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity at the New York school in October 2024, has sparked a national conversation on campus safety and the culture of silence surrounding sexual assault. The case has been reopened, and New York State Attorney General Letitia James has taken it over.
Now, the University of Oregon has alerted students to five new sexual assault cases that occurred on or near campus. The alert went out on Wednesday, two days after classes began.
Four of the reported sexual assaults involved students, and the fifth happened near a park next to university property. All of the cases occurred in the past week, the university said.
Authorities arrested someone in the fifth case, but it’s unclear how they will proceed with the other four.
While the five sexual assaults are not believed to be related, “several alleged perpetrators may have taken advantage of the fact that the victims were intoxicated at social events,” the University of Oregon said.
When reached for comment, the university said it could not confirm any other details at this time, citing multiple ongoing investigations.
The university told The Independent that it issued the alert, “because we are very concerned to see a pattern of assaults with similar characteristics and wanted to let our campus community know that these have occurred, that investigations are occurring at both the university and law enforcement levels, and most importantly, that our first concern is for survivors and that the university does not tolerate nonconsensual sexual activity in any form.”
Newly unsealed documents in Cornell University’s investigation into Jane Doe’s case have revealed how drugs played a role in the alleged gang rape.
One of Jane Doe’s roommates said she overheard the woman tell one of the men, “You had penetrative sex with me. I had so much ketamine, my eyes were crossed, and you still had sex with me,” according to documents obtained by CBS News New York.
In a summary of Jane Doe’s statement to university police that Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten released before he was removed from the case, the woman said she came to the frat house as a “5 out of 10” on a scale of drunkenness and that she became an “8 out of 10” throughout the hours-long ordeal.
She also said she took Ketamine multiple times.
“I felt like bait. I felt like lions around me,” Jane Doe said during a May 2025 disciplinary hearing. “It just was a totally debilitating place to be in.”
Cornell University has defended its handling of Jane Doe’s case, which ended in expulsions and suspensions.
