Jamie Raskin says ‘startling’ email asked whether young woman was ‘for me, or are you keeping her for yourself’

A powerful Democratic lawmaker has called for a criminal investigation into former Bard College president Leon Botstein after congressional investigators uncovered an email from Botstein to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in which he says Botstein asked if a young woman was “for me, or are you keeping her for yourself”.

The latest development appears to have triggered the immediate resignation of Botstein from all Bard-affiliated positions, including his professorship and roles in Bard’s music programs. Botstein had led the college for 50 years and only recently stepped down as president.

School trustees appoint Sally Yates to review policies as university grapples with fallout from alleged frat gang rape

A former high-ranking Department of Justice official will look at how Cornell handles sexual misconduct complaints, university trustees announced on Tuesday as they tried to address an outpouring of anger over allegations of a 2024 gang rape at a fraternity house.

Sally Yates, who was a deputy attorney general in the Obama administration, will spearhead the review, the trustees said. The assessment is to include how the Ivy League university investigates reports of sexual assault and sexual harassment, how the disciplinary process works, the adequacy of campus police responses, and more.

Cornell University students staged a protest in solidarity with Jane Doe, a former classmate whose gang-rape allegations ignited a national uproar. Protesters demanded the school take firmer action against sexual violence on campus and called for an external inquiry into how the matter has been handled by Cornell's administration. In a civil lawsuit filed last month, Jane Doe alleged she was given drugs and alcohol and then sexually assaulted by several members of the campus chapter of the Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024 after she had become incapacitated. Doe named seven Chi Phi members as defendants in the suit, along with the fraternity chapter, a local bar, her own sorority and the university. Cornell, which has defended its response to the original report, shut down the Chi Phi chapter and imposed a range of disciplinary measures on the fraternity members involved, including expulsions and other sanctions. The men all denied any wrongdoing and none have been charged with a crime

Hall housing Michael Kotlikoff’s office spray painted as demonstrators demand resignation of college president

• Cornell University to take ‘serious look’ at fraternities after rape allegations

Mass protests erupted at Cornell University on Monday, with students criticizing officials’ handling of gang-rape allegations, demanding the president’s resignation and painting “SMASH THE PATRIARCHY” on an administration building.

Thousands of students and faculty gathered for a demonstration, sparked by the high-profile case of a former student known as Jane Doe, who said in a recent lawsuit that she was plied with drugs and raped at a fraternity house in 2024. The case has prompted international outrage and intense scrutiny of college fraternities and sexual violence on US campuses.

Public outcry to punish the alleged perpetrators in the Cornell case misses the point – the only solution is political, legal and cultural equality of women

Sometimes a story is so so appalling, it captures the public’s attention, including the attention of people who don’t focus on the issue otherwise. Such is the case with the alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell University.

For feminists who focus on violence against women or anyone who has ever cared about campus rape, the claims made in Jane Doe’s civil lawsuit against the alleged perpetrators may be unusual in its severity – but we know the statistics that show that somewhere between 20% and 25% of women college students will be the victim of a sexual assault (no statistics tell us what percentage of men students will be rapists).