Cornell University faces a lawsuit alleging it let a male student sexually assault multiple women despite repeated complaints — the same Ivy League school that pockets hundreds of millions in federal dollars while lecturing the country about safety and equity.

Two female students sued Cornell in November 2023 under New York's Adult Survivors Act, alleging the university ignored their complaints and those of at least five to ten other women who reported the same male student to the Title IX office, according to the lawsuit filed in Tompkins County Supreme Court. A judge denied Cornell's motion to dismiss, and the case is headed to trial next year — offering the public a rare window into how one of America's most prestigious universities handles sexual assault when no cameras are rolling.

One plaintiff said she was repeatedly assaulted between June and October 2018 and filed a Title IX complaint that fall. The second said she was "sexually, physically, and verbally assaulted" in the male student's on-campus dorm room on May 7, 2021, and filed a Title IX complaint in August of that year. She wrote in a sworn affidavit that "no action was taken" and the accused continued attending Cornell. According to NBC News, a person with knowledge said the student was eventually suspended and later transferred, though what triggered the suspension remains unclear.

The male student denied all allegations in court filings. His attorney declined to comment beyond what was filed. Cornell issued a statement saying it "disputes any assertion that it failed to investigate reported sexual misconduct and absolutely rejects any assertion that it would have failed to act in response to multiple reports of such misconduct."

The plaintiffs' attorney alleged in the complaint that "at least five-ten others are known to have been sexually abused" by the same student, "and it is believed that many more were abused but have yet to come forward." One plaintiff said in a sworn statement that the Title IX office received "numerous" other complaints against the individual.

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits gender-based discrimination and is commonly used by colleges to adjudicate sexual assault allegations outside the criminal justice system. Cornell's alleged failure to act on multiple complaints raises a straightforward question: why should American taxpayers continue sending federal money to an institution that appears to have repeatedly failed the most basic test of student safety?

The case surfaced as Cornell grapples with a separate, high-profile lawsuit filed in September by a woman identified as Jane Doe, who alleged she was gang-raped at the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024. An internal investigation led to two expulsions but no criminal charges. New York Attorney General Letitia James was tapped by the governor to lead a criminal investigation and has since recruited a former federal prosecutor to run it.

Then there is the campus press. The Cornell Daily Sun made national headlines in September when it published an editorial naming the accused frat brothers — the "Cornell 7" — declaring, "We know who you are and we refuse to let you benefit from this University's concealment." But the New York Post reported that the same student paper quietly scrubbed the bylines of its own former writer, Esat Braveboy, after he was accused in a 2023 lawsuit of "drug-facilitated sexual assault" of multiple coeds. Stories that once bore Braveboy's name now read "News Department." The Sun appears to have never covered the lawsuit involving its own former staffer. Braveboy denied the allegations. He now works as a "game master" leading Dungeons & Dragons sessions for adolescents, according to his LinkedIn.

Naming accused fraternity brothers while erasing an accused colleague's byline is not journalism — it is protectionism dressed up as accountability. Cornell's Title IX office allegedly did something similar: fielding complaint after complaint while the accused student remained on campus. The pattern is the same whether it comes from the administration or the newsroom — protect the institution, then issue a statement about how seriously you take the matter.

The federal money keeps flowing either way.