FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 30, 2026
Press Contact: Selasi Tagbor Morales, press@allianceforyouthaction.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, the Tompkins County District Attorney announced that the office will reopen a criminal investigation and present to a grand jury allegations that seven Chi Phi fraternity members drugged and sexually assaulted a Cornell University student in 2024. The move follows a Sept. 14 civil lawsuit alleging the university failed to protect her, which sparked national attention and outrage. Concurrently, the U.S. Department of Education reinstated 2020 Title IX rules requiring live cross-examinations for reported sexual misconduct.
Alliance for Youth Action Executive Director, Dakota Hall, released the following statement in reaction to the news:
“No student should have to go viral to be believed. It took extraordinary courage for the survivor at the center of the Cornell case to come forward, and for the young women on campuses across the country who have since shared their own stories. That courage is why this investigation is finally being reopened. This is what happens when young people organize: when we refuse to stay silent, we move institutions that were built to protect themselves.
But let’s be clear: it should never fall on students to protect themselves and each other. That is the job of our schools, our prosecutors, and our elected officials. Under administrations of both parties, too many of them have looked the other way and shielded perpetrators instead of standing with survivors. Now, at the very moment survivors are demanding more, the Trump administration has chosen to roll back Title IX protections instead of strengthening them. Under this rule, a student who reports sexual assault can be forced into a live hearing and cross-examined about the worst moment of her life. No survivor should have to endure an interrogation just to seek justice. That is abhorrent. It will keep survivors from coming forward and make it easier for assailants and institutions to escape accountability.
This rollback also shows the deeper problem. It is reflective of a society that promotes violence against women while simultaneously restricting their bodily autonomy. It reminds us that protections that exist only as agency rules can be erased every time power changes hands. Survivors cannot keep living at the mercy of the next election. These protections must be law.
So here is our message to every candidate asking for young people’s vote this November: young voters are about to decide who controls Congress, and our votes come with terms. Some of the first acts of the next Congress must be to write survivor protections into federal law, end forced live cross-examination of survivors, fully fund and staff the Office for Civil Rights so complaints are investigated instead of shelved, and provide real consequences for schools that bury reports. Commit to it now. Deliver it when you take office. We are organizing to win this majority, and we will hold it accountable for what it does with our votes.”
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The Alliance for Youth Action grows progressive people power across America by empowering local young people’s organizations to strengthen our democracy, fix our economy, and correct injustices through on-the-ground organizing.