Cornell University’s Jane Doe student defended “the gangbang” and wrote “our body our choice asf” in text messages sent two days after the alleged sexual assault she would later describe in a lawsuit as rape, according to a text chain published Wednesday.
The messages, obtained by TMZ, were exchanged on October 21, 2024, between the woman identified in court papers as Jane Doe and Jonathan Newell, one of seven Chi Phi fraternity members she later named in a civil complaint.
Newell apologized to the woman in the exchange and said he hoped she was not facing the same backlash he was.
“You’re an amazing person and I genuinely hope ur not catching as much heat from this as we r,” Newell wrote. “We’ve been shutting down any stories we’ve heard but again I’m so so sorry.”
Doe thanked him and said her recollection of the night was hazy.
“my memories super clouded too. I think we were all way to f***ing drunk and high,” she wrote, telling Newell she had “really liked being w u and matt” and that “anything anyone has to say about the gamgbang [sic] is out of their jurisdiction.”
She added that neither of them should “feel any shame for the part,” writing, “our body our choice asf.”
In a separate message, Doe referenced a prior encounter with Newell and fraternity member Matthew Ingalls, writing that she loved both men and promising she “wont get quiet and weird w u like i did last time.” Ingalls himself told the university in February 2025 that Doe had sexually assaulted him while he was incapacitated.
The texts surfaced as Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten moves to bring the case before a grand jury, nearly two years after he declined to file charges. Van Houten has said Doe’s original account to police described the night very differently than her lawsuit does.
“Jane Doe’s sworn statement in November of 2024 did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped,” the district attorney said. “On the contrary, Jane Doe’s statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”
Doe’s 101-page civil suit, filed in September, alleges she was forcibly dosed with ketamine and raped by seven fraternity members over several hours. Her attorney, Thomas Giuffra, has said Cornell’s internal punishments “did not reflect the severity of the charges.” Ingalls and Newell were expelled; the other five received suspensions or lesser sanctions. All seven have denied wrongdoing, and none has been criminally charged.
The reopened investigation puts pressure on the Ivy League school, which critics have cast as a test of how elite institutions handle such allegations. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) appointed state Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor. Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff released a video apology, and the Chi Phi chapter remains barred from campus.
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