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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/29\/nyregion\/cornell-daily-sun-newspaper-rape.html?emc=edit_nn_20260930&nl=the-morning&segment_id=227287",
    "parsed_content": "Cornell Rape InvestigationWhat We\u00a0KnowTimelineNew EvidenceStudent Newspaper Pursued CaseAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe Student Journalists Who Never Let the Cornell Assault Case GoThe student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, covered the allegations of rape at a fraternity party since they were first made in 2024 and led the reporting on the case.Listen \u00b7 5:17 min Share full articleThe Cornell Daily Sun is independent of the university and has its offices off campus.Credit...Heather Ainsworth for The New York TimesBy Emma GoldbergReporting from Ithaca, N.Y.Sept. 29, 2026See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google Editors of The Cornell Daily Sun clustered around their computers late Monday night, getting ready to send out a letter from the editor. They looked bleary-eyed, and one reporter confessed she had skipped her class on Nietzsche that day.These student journalists at Cornell University were pressing through a dizzying two weeks following the story of a student\u2019s allegation that she was raped on campus in 2024.The case had long had their attention; now it had burst into the national spotlight, and their high-risk decision to publish the names of the accused was being discussed not only in Cornell\u2019s libraries and walkways but in the national media.Back in November 2024, students at Cornell were shaken by an alert they received over email: \u201cCrime ALERT: Sexual Assault,\" the email read, referring to the case of a woman who told the Cornell police she had been assaulted at a fraternity house.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThere was outrage on campus. Students threw eggs at the fraternity house, Chi Phi, that the woman named. The university convened a sexual assault task force, which compiled a series of recommendations for teaching students about consent and the processes for reporting assault. Then much of the campus attention moved on.But Cereese Qusba, 22, a senior and reporter for The Sun, couldn\u2019t shake her concerned curiosity about the case. She got in contact with Jane Doe, the plaintiff, and built a relationship with Ms. Doe and her lawyer. Ms. Qusba interviewed university administrators about their approach to disciplining students accused of assault.Ms. Qusba made her obsessive dedication known to the student paper\u2019s higher-ups. When a new editor in chief, Sophia Dasser, 20, took over the paper in early 2026, she immediately received a phone call from Ms. Qusba, who was studying abroad in Sydney, Australia.\u201cSophia, I\u2019m working on this story \u2014 I want it to be a focus of The Sun,\u201d Ms. Dasser recalled hearing over the phone. She added, \u201cThe Sun never really let go.\u201dThis month, when Jane Doe filed a lawsuit against the university, the fraternity and her sorority, Ms. Qusba was ready to hit publish on her investigation, which was 23 months in the making. \u201cCornell, Chi Phi Sued by Victim of Alleged Gang Rape, Drugging in 2024,\u201d read the headline on her Sept. 18 story, which traced Jane Doe\u2019s allegations in detail throughout the night that she said she was assaulted.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe Sun is the oldest continuously independent college daily paper in the country. Ms. Dasser, who speaks with a cool and quick precision, was adamant that she wanted the paper to dominate the story not just in its reporting, but in its editorial response. Why be financially independent, she wondered, if not to publish sharp-edged views of the biggest campus issues?This was the sensibility that emboldened her, days later, when she decided to publish the names of the seven fraternity men named in the lawsuit on the paper\u2019s front page and in a fiery editorial. It was a sensitive decision, she knew, given that the men were named in the suit but had not been criminally charged.ImageCereese Qusba, a reporter, left, and Sophia Dasser, the editor in chief, worked together on coverage of Jane Doe\u2019s allegations.Credit...Heather Ainsworth for The New York TimesMs. Dasser said she decided to publish the names to display the transparency that some students felt was lacking from university leadership. On Saturday night, Sept. 19, she was at The Sun\u2019s office in downtown Ithaca celebrating the paper\u2019s 146th birthday. Over cake, she turned to her fellow editors and asked: \u201cCan we just put the names on the front page of the paper?\u201d\u201cWe called up our lawyer and we were like, \u2018Can we do this?\u2019\u201d she recalled. \u201cHe was like, \u2018I mean, it\u2019s kind of a risk.\u2019 And we were like, \u2018OK, I guess that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to start the editorial.\u2019\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMs. Dasser and her co-editors got to work designing a print page, with Ms. Qusba\u2019s investigative story on top and the list of men\u2019s names underneath in a box colored The Sun\u2019s official shade of red.\u201cFirst it was just a line of the names and I was like, \u2018Wait \u2014 this looks like a byline,\u2019\u201d Ms. Dasser recalled. She was sitting in her constitutional law class when the headline came to her: \u201cCornell Won\u2019t, We Will.\u201dThe Sun has set up a tip line, and Ms. Dasser and Ms. Qusba said their inboxes have been flooded with emails from students who say they have also been the victim of assaults on campus, or experienced frustrations filing Title IX complaints alleging sexual misconduct or discrimination.Ms. Dasser gestured around her office \u2014 a dimly lit room cluttered with piles of papers and books, including a style manual \u2014 and emphasized how seriously The Sun takes its independence from the university administration.\u201cThe office that you sit in is obviously off campus and that\u2019s for a reason,\u201d she said. \u201cOur main obligation is accountability. Whether that looks like something that many people do not want to hear, or something that many people do want to hear, it\u2019s our obligation to report on it.\u201dFrom the commentsEmma GoldbergMetro reporterI went to the office of the Cornell Daily Sun on Monday night and spoke with the tenacious reporter and editor in chief who have been pursuing the story of an alleged rape on campus in 2024, long after much of the campus attention to the case went away. I also asked them about their high-risk decision to publish the names of the seven men involved in the case on their front page.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-29T21:23:09+00:00",
    "author_name": "Emma Goldberg",
    "site_name": "The New York Times",
    "section": "NYRegion",
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    "ai_headline": "The Student Journalists Who Never Let the Cornell Assault Case Go",
    "ai_simplified_title": "Cornell Daily Sun Journalists Pursue Rape Case 2024",
    "ai_excerpt": "Student journalists at The Cornell Daily Sun relentlessly covered a 2024 alleged rape case, culminating in a lawsuit against the university and fraternity. Their decision to publish the names of the accused sparked national discussion.",
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