New York: At Cornell University on Friday, students discussed an online campaign expressing solidarity with 'Jane Doe', the anonymous woman whose sexual assault allegations have drawn attention on social media.
Using the phrase 'I Am Jane Doe', social media users beyond Cornell have posted messages of support and shared personal accounts of sexual harassment and assault.
Students said the campaign has helped amplify survivors' voices and encouraged others to speak openly about their experiences.
“I think this is a movement that is meant to help bring light to the issues of women who have to deal with like sexual harassment or assault,” said 19-year-old Cornell University student Shay Thomas. “I also feel like this is helping bring, like, give courage to other women to speak about their experiences without being targeted or like, brought down.”
Others said the campaign highlighted accounts from women at colleges across the United States and raised questions about whether universities do enough to protect survivors and hold perpetrators accountable.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she signed an executive order on Thursday, appointing state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the case of the alleged 2024 gang rape of a Cornell University student.
The student filed a civil lawsuit last month saying several members of a campus fraternity drugged and assaulted her in 2024. Hochul said on Thursday that newly released information raised questions about the investigation conducted by the Cornell Police Department and the decision by Tompkins County prosecutors not to prosecute the case.
The case raised questions about how law enforcement and the university initially responded after the woman, then 20, made a report to police a few weeks after the alleged incident occurred.
Cornell students have scheduled a rally for Monday to call for additional measures to protect victims.
