Cornell University is banning social events and parties at fraternity houses for the rest of the school year amid a national backlash over officials’ handling of an alleged 2024 gang rape at the school.

The university’s president, Michael Kotlikoff, announced the moratorium on fraternity parties Tuesday, as part of a series of measures designed “to strengthen campus safety, better support survivors, and begin addressing the social context of sexual violence at Cornell.”

Kotlikoff said fraternities that violated the directive would be immediately suspended, and that school officials would work with students and faculty to establish “safe social alternatives.”

The school has more than 50 fraternities and sororities, which date back to the mid-19th century. More than 3,000 undergraduate students, or one-third of them, participate in Greek life at the school, according to the university’s figures. The newly announced ban on social events only applies to the school’s fraternities. Most sororities already adhere to no-alcohol policies and do not host parties.

The school will also hire more staff to support survivors of sexual assault and work to change “the social culture at Cornell,” Kotlikoff announced. In instances where survivors want to pursue criminal charges, New York State Police investigators — whom the announcement describes as “trauma-informed” — will “prepare comprehensive investigative summaries” for law enforcement.

“Cornell must be a place where safety is not an open question,” he said.

The news comes as part of the university’s reckoning over the problem of sexual violence after a former student alleged in a civil suit filed last month that she was drugged and gang-raped for hours at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house in the fall of 2024. The chapter was subsequently suspended.

The lawsuit triggered an uproar at the local district attorney’s decision at the time not to prosecute the men allegedly involved, as well as the university’s response. Matthew Van Houten, the Tompkins County district attorney, said the substance of the accuser’s original allegations did not “constitute a crime” because she described participating in the sexual activity voluntarily. He said his office had since opened an investigation.

None of the seven Chi Phi fraternity members named in the accuser’s suit has been criminally charged in the case. All of the men have denied wrongdoing.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has said the woman was “failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her” and appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James to serve as special prosecutor in the case. Lawyers for two of the more than a dozen defendants whom the accuser is suing in her civil case are seeking to have James removed from the case, alleging that she showed bias against the men in a statement indicating support for the accuser.

The university also appointed former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to lead an independent review of the school’s response.

Fallon Gallagher contributed reporting.

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