Cornell 7 Update texts released by CBS News show Jane Doe and two Cornell fraternity members exchanging messages after the Oct. 21, 2024 night at the Chi Phi fraternity house. One man later wrote that if he had been less f[---]ed up and aware of how out of hand things got, he would have shut it down.
The exchanges stretch over more than two weeks. They include Jane Doe writing on Nov. 3 that "90% of what happened that night was not consensual" and, days later, telling one man, "I know you lied."
Oct. 21 Texts
CBS News said the first text it described came less than 48 hours after the night on the Cornell University campus. On Oct. 21, 2024, Jane Doe was texting one of the fraternity members who later appeared in her civil lawsuit, and the messages continued intermittently after that.
In one reply, the man wrote, "if I'd been less f[---]ed up and even somewhat aware of the situation and how out of hand it got I would've shut it down," followed by, "i'm so so sorry." The messages place the two sides of the dispute in the days immediately after the night in question, not months later.
Jane Doe and MALE 2
Another message came on Oct. 22 from a different man, later identified by CBS News as MALE 1, who had been Jane Doe's friend before things allegedly got out of hand. On Nov. 8, she wrote back, "I know you lied."
Jane Doe also wrote to MALE 2, "aw [MALE 2] i really appreciate this text," and added, "my memories super clouded too." She wrote, "i think we were all way to f[---]ing drunk and high," then added, "our body our choice asf,," and, "i don't think we should feel any shame for the part."
Thomas Giuffra
Thomas Giuffra said Jane Doe's messages reflected "classic symptoms of delayed recognition" and called them "a textbook response to sexual assault." He was commenting on texts that later became part of a civil lawsuit involving seven named defendants.
Cornell's Title IX investigation later found both men responsible for sexual assault, and both were expelled. The district attorney declined to bring charges after a 2024 investigation, and both men have not been charged with a crime. The texts now give a direct record of how Jane Doe and the fraternity members described the night while the account was still unfolding.
The remaining question is the same one the texts cannot answer: what happened inside that night so the university later reached that conclusion.
