Overview
- A court filing dated Oct. 20 discontinued claims against Orazio Petito 'with prejudice,' removing him permanently from the Cornell civil suit but leaving other defendants and claims intact.
- New York Attorney General Letitia James has taken the lead in a reopened criminal review of the alleged 2024 Chi Phi attack at Cornell while the university has hired former deputy U.S. attorney general Sally Yates to conduct an independent review of Cornell’s handling of the case.
- A 19-year-old filed a Cook County civil suit on Oct. 20 alleging she was raped at the Alpha Delta Phi house near the University of Chicago on Feb. 7, and Alpha Delta Phi’s national office says it suspended the member named in the complaint as police continue to investigate.
- The University of Arizona Police Department has probed an alleged sexual assault at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house on Aug. 25–26, 2026, and hospital forensic testing reportedly supported parts of the victim’s account and showed possible signs of strangulation while the chapter had been placed on probation in May for hazing.
- The cases highlight growing tensions between campus Title IX processes, campus police practices and criminal prosecution, and have prompted student protests, faculty rebukes, fraternity sanctions and likely policy changes as universities and prosecutors pursue parallel reviews.