Editor’s note: This article mentions alleged rape and sexual misconduct.
After a six-year-long legal battle, Cornell University has reached a confidential settlement with Mukund Vengalattore, a former Cornell physics professor, regarding a Title IX lawsuit that has drawn significant attention within the academic community.
The dispute began in 2014 when a graduate student accused Vengalattore of rape and sexual misconduct, alleging an undisclosed two-year consensual sexual relationship and inappropriate behavior. Although Vengalattore consistently denied these allegations, his request for tenure was denied without a hearing.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance — a civil rights group that aims to “protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State” — represents Vengalattore and filed the lawsuit in 2018 against Cornell and the U.S. Department of Education. The complaint primarily contended that Cornell violated Vengalattore’s Title IX rights and constitutional right to due process, pointing to several significant procedural flaws.
For one, the lawsuit alleges that Vengalattore was not informed of the allegations against him for months after they were raised, and numerous unrecorded conversations between the accuser and the investigators were held, leaving Vengalattore with the burden of proving a sexual relationship did not occur. Even after he was finally informed of the accusations, Vengalattore was denied counsel during interviews.
The complaint also maintains that investigators for the University ignored witness testimonies, prevented cross-examination of the accuser and ultimately imposed a two-week suspension without a hearing, after which Vengalattore’s academic appointment employment at Cornell ended in June 2018. He attributed his denial of academic appointments and laboratory access at other institutions to what he described as a false narrative.
The legal complaint implicates the U.S. Department of Education as well, saying that Cornell, under pressure from the department’s Title IX and Sex Discrimination guidelines, was coerced into adopting policies that undermined due process protections for accused individuals, instead siding with the accuser.
The district court initially dismissed the case, but upon appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit partially reversed this decision in 2022, allowing the lawsuit to proceed against Cornell while excluding the U.S. Department of Education.
Following the denial of Cornell's motion for summary judgment, or a motion to end a case without a trial, the parties reached a “favorable settlement,” according to a Feb. 6 statement released by the NCLA.
“Because Dr. Vengalattore stood up for his rights, the Second Circuit held Title IX applies to intentional gender discrimination against faculty, too, and universities must now think twice before following future bad federal Title IX guidance,” wrote NCLA President Mark Chenoweth in the statement.
This case is not an isolated incident at Cornell. In 2018, the University withheld the Ph.D. of one of Vengalattore’s students due to an outstanding Title IX allegation against them. The complaint, which was lodged by Vengalattore’s accuser, alleged that the Ph.D. candidate retaliated against them for making the sexual misconduct report. 19 Cornell Law School professors criticized the University’s decision, urging the administration to dismiss the complaint and award the degree.
Cornell Media Relations declined to comment on the outcome of Vengalattore’s Title IX lawsuit against the University.
Jeremiah Jung ’28 is a Sun staff writer and can be reached at jwj66@cornell.edu.
