New York
Cornell building is sprayed with graffiti blasting school’s response to gang rape complaint
ITHACA, New York (AP) — Cornell’s main administration building was splashed with graffiti and a glass door was broken overnight as student groups planned a protest Monday over the university’s handling of the alleged 2024 fraternity-house gang rape that has ignited a firestorm of anger on campus and beyond.
Holes were knocked into one of the administration hall’s glass doors, and the walls beside them were marked with red-painted messages condemning patriarchy and the Ivy League school’s handling of sexual assaults, news media photos showed.
Cornell spokesperson Kyle Kimball said in a statement that the university was investigating and that “damaging property is not the answer” to Cornellians’ “frustration and strong emotions.” Campus police referred questions to his office, which declined to provide more detail on the incident.
Meanwhile, a roster of student organizations planned a late-afternoon “Justice for Survivors” demonstration to push for changes in the university’s process for handling sexual assault complaints and for more punishments connected to the one that followed a party at the Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024.
A then-sophomore alleges that she was sexually assaulted there by multiple men after being pressured into drinking and taking drugs.
The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, recently sued the university, seven former students, the fraternity and others. Her lawsuit said that she became fully incapacitated as fraternity members assaulted her, and that one man sent others a message inviting them to participate.
Lawyers for two of the former students denied they participated in a sexual assault. Attempts by The Associated Press to reach the other men or their representatives have been unsuccessful. Court records show that some of the accused students, when interviewed by Cornell investigators, described the sexual activity as consensual.
The suit has drawn national attention to what Cornell, its police force and the local district attorney did after she told the campus police in November 2024 she “can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”
No criminal charges have been filed. The Chi Phi chapter at Cornell was shut down, and the Ivy League university has said it expelled some students and suspended others. In a statement last week, the administration bristled about the “false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case.”
Students, however, have demanded more accountability and transparency, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has said Jane Doe was “failed by people and institutions” including the Cornell police and local District Attorney Matthew Van Houten.
Hochul appointed the state attorney general last week to take over a criminal investigation that Van Houten had reopened days earlier, and the governor called for an independent review of Cornell’s handling of the matter.
After the week’s developments, Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff released an apologetic video Saturday, saying that Jane Doe’s account “raises heartbreaking and troubling issues about sexual assault, dehumanization and aspects of party culture, alcohol and drug use.”
Kotlikoff reaffirmed his support for an independent review of the university’s actions and vowed more transparency and a commitment to “finding the answers our community deserves.”
Massachusetts
Search suspended for 6 people on missing medical flight from Bermuda to Boston
Authorities on Sunday suspended the search off the Massachusetts coast for six people on an air ambulance that disappeared during a flight from Bermuda to Boston.
The U.S. Coast Guard said authorities searched more than 4,400 miles (7,081 kilometers) over a span of 66 hours for the four Canadians and two people from Bermuda who were on board.
“Suspending a search is not an easy decision,” Rear Adm. Matthew Lake, commander of the Coast Guard’s northeast district, said in a statement. “We express our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones affected by the tragedy and our gratitude for our partner agencies who helped support search efforts.”
The Federal Aviation Administration contacted the Coast Guard at 2 a.m. Saturday that it had lost contact with the Gulfstream G100 carrying six people over the Atlantic Ocean. Searchers later Saturday found a “debris field” off the coast of Nantucket, Lake had said at a news conference on Sunday.
Coast Guard crews along with the New York National Guard’s Air Rescue Wing and Massachusetts authorities searched a vast area using fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, boats and cutters.
The depth of the water around the debris field was 80 to 90 feet (about 24 to 27 meters).
The Canadian-registered air ambulance jet had four crew members and two passengers aboard when it departed Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport for the nighttime flight to Massachusetts, according to a statement from the Bermuda airport’s operator, Skyport.
Air traffic audio indicates that the plane may have been “coming in blind” when a storm loomed ahead shortly before it vanished.
The pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency as the jet approached the coast, according to air traffic control audio posted by LiveATC.net. “Roger, you said you’re coming in blind. Is that what you said?” a controller can be heard asking the pilot.
That makes Mary Schiavo, who is a former Inspector General of the Transportation Department, think the plane may have lost its navigational instruments just as a storm moved across its path on radar. The plane also descended sharply from its cruising altitude of around 24,000 feet to around 10,000 feet, according to preliminary data from flight tracking site FlightRadar24.
“Something bad happened with this big drop, and they flew into this big storm. It’s a terrible place to have a loss of your instruments and be flying blind,” said Schiavo, who is an aviation attorney. “It’s very easy to get disoriented and not know if you’re turning, climbing, descending, etc.”
Cornell building is sprayed with graffiti blasting school’s response to gang rape complaint
ITHACA, New York (AP) — Cornell’s main administration building was splashed with graffiti and a glass door was broken overnight as student groups planned a protest Monday over the university’s handling of the alleged 2024 fraternity-house gang rape that has ignited a firestorm of anger on campus and beyond.
Holes were knocked into one of the administration hall’s glass doors, and the walls beside them were marked with red-painted messages condemning patriarchy and the Ivy League school’s handling of sexual assaults, news media photos showed.
Cornell spokesperson Kyle Kimball said in a statement that the university was investigating and that “damaging property is not the answer” to Cornellians’ “frustration and strong emotions.” Campus police referred questions to his office, which declined to provide more detail on the incident.
Meanwhile, a roster of student organizations planned a late-afternoon “Justice for Survivors” demonstration to push for changes in the university’s process for handling sexual assault complaints and for more punishments connected to the one that followed a party at the Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024.
A then-sophomore alleges that she was sexually assaulted there by multiple men after being pressured into drinking and taking drugs.
The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, recently sued the university, seven former students, the fraternity and others. Her lawsuit said that she became fully incapacitated as fraternity members assaulted her, and that one man sent others a message inviting them to participate.
Lawyers for two of the former students denied they participated in a sexual assault. Attempts by The Associated Press to reach the other men or their representatives have been unsuccessful. Court records show that some of the accused students, when interviewed by Cornell investigators, described the sexual activity as consensual.
The suit has drawn national attention to what Cornell, its police force and the local district attorney did after she told the campus police in November 2024 she “can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”
No criminal charges have been filed. The Chi Phi chapter at Cornell was shut down, and the Ivy League university has said it expelled some students and suspended others. In a statement last week, the administration bristled about the “false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case.”
Students, however, have demanded more accountability and transparency, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has said Jane Doe was “failed by people and institutions” including the Cornell police and local District Attorney Matthew Van Houten.
Hochul appointed the state attorney general last week to take over a criminal investigation that Van Houten had reopened days earlier, and the governor called for an independent review of Cornell’s handling of the matter.
After the week’s developments, Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff released an apologetic video Saturday, saying that Jane Doe’s account “raises heartbreaking and troubling issues about sexual assault, dehumanization and aspects of party culture, alcohol and drug use.”
Kotlikoff reaffirmed his support for an independent review of the university’s actions and vowed more transparency and a commitment to “finding the answers our community deserves.”
Massachusetts
Search suspended for 6 people on missing medical flight from Bermuda to Boston
Authorities on Sunday suspended the search off the Massachusetts coast for six people on an air ambulance that disappeared during a flight from Bermuda to Boston.
The U.S. Coast Guard said authorities searched more than 4,400 miles (7,081 kilometers) over a span of 66 hours for the four Canadians and two people from Bermuda who were on board.
“Suspending a search is not an easy decision,” Rear Adm. Matthew Lake, commander of the Coast Guard’s northeast district, said in a statement. “We express our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones affected by the tragedy and our gratitude for our partner agencies who helped support search efforts.”
The Federal Aviation Administration contacted the Coast Guard at 2 a.m. Saturday that it had lost contact with the Gulfstream G100 carrying six people over the Atlantic Ocean. Searchers later Saturday found a “debris field” off the coast of Nantucket, Lake had said at a news conference on Sunday.
Coast Guard crews along with the New York National Guard’s Air Rescue Wing and Massachusetts authorities searched a vast area using fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, boats and cutters.
The depth of the water around the debris field was 80 to 90 feet (about 24 to 27 meters).
The Canadian-registered air ambulance jet had four crew members and two passengers aboard when it departed Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport for the nighttime flight to Massachusetts, according to a statement from the Bermuda airport’s operator, Skyport.
Air traffic audio indicates that the plane may have been “coming in blind” when a storm loomed ahead shortly before it vanished.
The pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency as the jet approached the coast, according to air traffic control audio posted by LiveATC.net. “Roger, you said you’re coming in blind. Is that what you said?” a controller can be heard asking the pilot.
That makes Mary Schiavo, who is a former Inspector General of the Transportation Department, think the plane may have lost its navigational instruments just as a storm moved across its path on radar. The plane also descended sharply from its cruising altitude of around 24,000 feet to around 10,000 feet, according to preliminary data from flight tracking site FlightRadar24.
“Something bad happened with this big drop, and they flew into this big storm. It’s a terrible place to have a loss of your instruments and be flying blind,” said Schiavo, who is an aviation attorney. “It’s very easy to get disoriented and not know if you’re turning, climbing, descending, etc.”
