Cornell Faculty Senate Votes No Confidence Over Rape Case

Cornell University's faculty senate voted on November 6 to say it has 'no confidence' in the school's leaders. The vote came after a former student sued Cornell, saying the university failed to protect her from being attacked. More than half of the senators who voted — about 56% — agreed that the administration has not done enough to deal with sexual assault on campus. About 37% voted against the resolution, and 7.4% chose not to vote either way.

The former student is called 'Jane Doe' in court papers to protect her identity. She filed a civil lawsuit in September, claiming she was gang raped in 2024 and that Cornell did nothing to keep her safe. Cornell is located in Ithaca, New York. The university said it did investigate the case and took action, including expelling some students who were involved.

A 'no confidence' vote is a formal way for a group to say it does not trust a leader or organization to do its job well. However, this kind of vote at Cornell does not force anyone to resign or change policies right away. The faculty senate is the main group of elected teacher representatives at the university, so the vote is still a very serious statement. It sent a strong message to the school's top leaders.

Cornell's board chair, Anne Smalling, responded to the vote by saying the board of trustees still supports university president Michael Kotlikoff. She said the vote showed how angry people on campus are, and that what happened to Jane Doe was 'unacceptable.' She also said the board supports Kotlikoff's efforts to keep students safe. Kotlikoff himself had 30 days to respond in writing to the vote, but had not yet done so.

Before the vote started on October 29, President Kotlikoff said that faculty discussion is 'an important component of Cornell's shared governance.' He pointed to steps the university had already taken, such as adding staff to its civil rights office and expanding programs to prevent sexual assault. He also said the university hired people specifically to help victims. Still, many faculty members felt these steps were not enough.

Faculty senator Risa Lieberwitz helped write the no-confidence resolution. She said the administration had failed to deal with the problem of sexual assault in a deep, lasting way, even though Kotlikoff has been in a senior leadership role for more than ten years. She warned that students, teachers, and staff no longer feel confident that assault cases will be handled fairly. She added that this fear could stop victims from reporting attacks in the future.

Not everyone on the faculty agreed with the resolution. Dean of Faculty Chris Schaffer said he opposed it because it did not clearly explain what the administration had done wrong or what changes it was asking for. He wrote that when making such an important judgment, the resolution should be specific about what failed and what needs to change. He also noted ahead of the vote that even if it passed, it would have no 'binding consequence,' but the majority of voting senators still chose to approve it.