— Kelly Clarkson, jeopardizing her universal approval rating by coming out as passionately pro-AI. But does she serenade it with “My Life Would Suck Without You”?
Law & Order
A Tale of Two Systems
What's going on: In the days since a former Cornell student filed a civil lawsuit alleging she was gang raped by a group of seven fraternity members in 2024, her case has put a spotlight on how campus police and the criminal justice system respond to sexual assault. According to The New York Times, in November of 2024, Cornell police and the school’s Title IX office conducted hours of interviews with Jane Doe, which they summarized in a six-page report that was shared with Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten. Among other things, the summary failed to include this clear statement from Doe: “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.” Van Houten, who reopened the case earlier this week, said that this summary was the main piece of evidence that his department considered two years ago when it declined to press charges. On Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’d “lost faith” in Van Houten’s ability to oversee the investigation and was appointing state Attorney General Letitia James to take over.
Tell me more: University police officers that are employed on 1,300 college campuses in the US are trained like regular law enforcement officers. But they also receive additional training on Title IX — which, among other things, helps ensure that campus sexual assaults are investigated. Cornell’s Title IX committee held at least a dozen hearings on this case following the alleged gang rape, collecting hundreds of pages of evidence that included emails, text messages, and interviews. It’s unclear how much of that evidence was ultimately reviewed by the DA’s office. While some legal experts say university proceedings can often lead to more accountability than the criminal justice system — where less than 10% of sexual assault cases end in a conviction — others say they mainly exist to protect a school's reputation. One law professor interviewed by the BBC describes both systems as often being “virtually impossible to navigate” for survivors.
