'Cornell Daily Sun' reporting brought light to alleged campus assault

Sophia Dasser, editor-in-chief at The Cornell Daily Sun, talks with NPR's Juana Summers about an alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell and the campus fallout.

Transcript

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

The civil lawsuit against seven current and former Cornell students, the university and others was filed on September 14 by Jane Doe. A week later, long before the story picked up nationally, the editorial board at the university's paper published a piece. Its title is "Cornell Won't, We Will." That piece takes the university to task for their handling of Jane Doe's case. The Cornell Daily Sun's editor in chief, Sophia Dasser, is with us now. Welcome.

SOPHIA DASSER: Hello. Thank you for having me.

SUMMERS: Thanks for being here, Sophia. I just want to start by asking you, what are you hearing from other students? What has campus been like in the last week?

DASSER: I mean, obviously, the reach has been absolutely extraordinary, and we're grateful for it. But I think to the editorial board, what has meant more is the solidarity that we've seen - people on this campus and beyond who have written to us, to me, specifically, saying that they see themselves in the story is really our priority.

SUMMERS: What did you and the other members of your editorial board uncover about Cornell's response when you were looking into this story?

DASSER: We realized that, you know, this is not a dark chapter in Cornell's history. It reflects a culture that the university has not yet confronted. The fact that sexual misconduct is treated as an educational problem - assigning essays, workshops, and lectures as a part of the task force - was extremely concerning to us. And the lack of transparency, it was both concerning to us and clearly to the Cornell community. The colead of the task force had said, and I quote, "that the charge was never to solve the problem." So our question is, who's responsible for solving it?

SUMMERS: You spoke with Dean of Students Marla Love, who was colead of that sexual assault task force that Cornell launched five months after this alleged assault, what did that interview teach you about the way that the university approaches combating sexual assault on your campus?

DASSER: Again, it really reflects the fact that they view sexual misconduct as an educational problem, one that can be solved through lectures and through workshops. And it's quite obvious to anyone that those who would carry out the sexual assault would most likely not be sitting in a voluntary sexual assault workshop. So we ask and we call on Cornell to not just be transparent about its process and the sexual assault outcomes, but also be proactive in keeping campus safe.

SUMMERS: Because you've mentioned it a couple of times, I want to talk about it - these essays. That's something that really stood out to me, that the alleged perpetrators were offered the chance to write essays to mitigate their conduct. And now, Cornell University says that any suggestion that they, quote, "did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false." But to your knowledge, how does that compare to other kinds of infractions?

DASSER: I mean, in this case, it was mentioned that they did not assign the essays as the sole punishments for the boys, but they did not deny the fact that the essays were assigned. I guess I struggle to understand what an essay can do to help resolve a sexual misconduct to this alleged degree. And that's hopefully the answer.

SUMMERS: Yeah. Sophia, I understand that the woman at the center of this case, Jane Doe, has been in touch with your staff. What have you heard from her? What has she shared?

DASSER: In an effort to protect her and her anonymity, we had our lead reporter do the majority of the communication with her. We are extremely grateful to her courage to allowing The Sun to share her story and for her speaking only to our paper. But at the end of the day, we also understand that her courage and her ability to speak out is also really encouraging many other victims to come to The Sun and speak out, that she is not a siloed and isolated case, that this is part of a greater culture.

SUMMERS: I mean, I know you want to protect ranonymity, but I do have to ask. I think many of us are wondering, do you have a sense of how she's doing, given the harrowing nature of these allegations?

DASSER: I don't want to speak for the Jane Doe, and I feel that if she is willing and open to speaking about her process, that she trusts The Sun again with that.

SUMMERS: You write in the piece that this is not a dark chapter in Cornell's history. It is a morbid pattern. What is The Daily Sun asking of Cornell University?

DASSER: Well, our call to action is to publish standards, publish standards for lifting an interim suspension in a sexual assault case. What allowed the boys to come back on campus? Published anonymized data of the sexual misconduct complaints every semester, outcomes, sanctions, lengths of interim suspensions - these can be anonymized, and they're done by other universities in our Ivy League cohorts. So they're not absurd requests.

SUMMERS: That was Sophia Dasser, editor in chief at the Cornell Daily Sun. Thank you for your reporting.

DASSER: Thank you.

SUMMERS: NPR reached out to Cornell University for comment. They pointed us to their online statement in which they expressed support for the Tompkins County District Attorney's decision to reexamine this case. And they defend the way they handled things in 2024.

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