Cornell University appointed former US Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to head an independent review of how the university prevents and responds to claims of sexual assault.
Yates, a partner at King & Spalding LLP, was selected by the university’s Board of Trustees amid growing scrutiny over how Cornell handled sexual-assault allegations stemming from a 2024 incident at the Chi Phi fraternity house. Concerns over Cornell’s response resurfaced last month, after a former student, identified in court records as Jane Doe, alleged in a civil complaint that Cornell, the fraternity and her former sorority failed to protect her.
In a statement released Tuesday, the university said Yates and her team will conduct a detailed review of the university’s response to the allegations, “including whether Cornell followed its policies and procedures in responding to the matter.”
Cornell barred the fraternity chapter in 2024 after the incident, the university previously said. A Chi Phi representative said Cornell’s chapter of the fraternity voted unanimously to remove the accused members from its roll three days after the plaintiff filed a police report.
No criminal charges have been filed in the case. Last week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul named New York Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor, giving her office the authority to prosecute offenses and present evidence to a grand jury if warranted.
Speaking at an event on Tuesday, Hochul called the appointment of Yates an important step “to find out what happened but also to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“This is about finding out how we can change the culture that was clearly there, that is so abhorrent to all of us,” she said.
Yates served as deputy US attorney general during the Barack Obama administration. She later became acting US attorney general, until her firing by President Donald Trump in 2017 after she refused to uphold his executive order banning entry into the US by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries.
After leaving the Justice Department, Yates joined King & Spalding. In 2022, the US Soccer Federation released findings from an investigation by Yates into allegations of abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in women’s professional soccer.