Cornell University president Michael Kotlikoff has publicly apologised again to the former student known as Jane Doe, telling his State of the University address this week: “On behalf of our entire community, I want to again apologize to Jane Doe.”
Kotlikoff had intended to devote the annual speech to Cornell’s fight over federal research funding and a rebuilt operating model, according to the university. Instead, he opened by telling his audience: “That isn’t a speech I can give this evening. Our community is reeling.”
“I am personally sorry”
The apology follows a New York Times interview published this week in which Kotlikoff acknowledged he had known about the allegations shortly after Doe first reported them in November 2024, but never followed up with her or the men she accused. He said he did not learn that she had dropped out of Cornell until she filed a civil lawsuit on September 16. “The fact that Jane Doe experienced what she experienced at Cornell is something that I am personally sorry for,” he said.
Doe alleges she was assaulted by members of the Chi Phi fraternity at its house in October 2024 and first reported the incident the following month. The university says its Title IX process led to disciplinary sanctions including expulsions and suspensions, and the fraternity chapter remains barred. Earlier this month Cornell suspended fraternity social events for the rest of the academic year.
A campus in crisis
The apology arrives during a week of accountability moments for American institutions, as the White House reversed course on a Pentagon execution broadcast. Analysts note the pattern is broader than one campus: when leaders stay hands-off in the name of process, the trust deficit that follows can prove harder to repair than the original failure.
It also lands amid a difficult year for education systems under strain worldwide, as administrators everywhere face questions about safety, funding and trust.
Kotlikoff told the Times he had kept his distance from the investigation out of respect for student privacy — a rationale that Title IX experts questioned, noting a university president can review such material for a legitimate institutional purpose, according to the report. He has not said he will resign, even as pressure on his leadership continues to mount. “I am sorry, for all of the ways that you were failed,” he told the community.
