Editor’s Note: This article discusses sexual assault on campus.
Sexual assault and related misconduct at Cornell increased across all measures of harassment, stalking and nonconsensual sexual contact in 2025, according to the results of a campus-wide survey released in a statement to the Cornell community on Tuesday.
According to the statement from Vice President for Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Christine Lovely and Executive Director of the Office of Civil Rights and Investigations at Weill Cornell Medicine Brittney Blakeney, the Survey of Sexual Assault and Related Misconduct is mandated to be conducted every two years by New York state law.
The survey measures students’ experiences with, and knowledge of, University policies and resources related to sexual assault, sexual and gender-based harassment, stalking and dating and domestic violence.
In 2025, 49 percent of respondents reported sexual or gender-based harassment, up from 45 percent in 2023 and 44 percent in 2021, according to the survey. 17 percent of respondents experienced stalking this year, compared to 13 percent in 2023 and five percent in 2021. 15 percent of respondents reported nonconsensual sexual contact, which encompasses penetrative sex, kissing, groping and choking, according to the overview of survey results. This number rose from 11 percent reported in 2023 and 2021.
The increase in NSC is driven primarily by a rise in reports from undergraduate women, which rose to 35 percent in 2025, from 23 percent in 2023. According to the overview, “consistent with findings from previous SARM surveys, Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous-identifying women report disproportionately higher rates of nonconsensual sexual contact.” Reported rates decreased among undergraduate men, from 9 percent to 8 percent, and graduate and professional women, from 6 percent to 5 percent, over the same period.
The anonymous survey was open from April 8 to May 12, and was available to 6,000 randomly selected undergraduate and graduate students from the University’s Ithaca, Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Tech campuses.
However, low response rates, along with “response patterns suggesting hesitancy to disclose detailed information about incidents, limits confidence in the accuracy of these estimates,” according to the overview, “Given these limitations in the 2025 survey data, the estimates of NSC and related harms are best interpreted with greater caution than those from prior administrations of the SARM survey.”
Of the 6,000 survey recipients, only 15 percent responded. This is an almost 60 percent decrease from a 36 percent response rate in 2023 and a 38 percent response rate in 2021. Undergraduate men were also the least likely to complete the survey, with a response rate of fewer than 10 percent. Graduate and professional men and women had the highest response rates of around 19 percent, while around 15 percent of undergraduate women invited responded.
“LGBAQ” students reported the highest rates of sexual or gender-based harassment, at 65 percent. The gap is especially prevalent among undergraduate men, with 44 percent of heterosexual respondents reporting harassment, compared to 81.3 percent of LGBAQ respondents.
SARM also detailed the context of sexual misconduct incidents, including perpetrator/victim characteristics, location and response. Among undergraduate women, NSC occurred most often in residence halls, with 29 percent of incidents, fraternity chapter houses or annexes, 20 percent, off-campus housing unofficially affiliated with clubs or student organizations, 11 percent, and other off-campus residences, 23 percent. 68 percent of undergraduate women indicated that the assault took place in a North Campus residence hall, 28 percent reported West Campus, and four percent identified Collegetown/South Campus.
Alcohol was involved in a majority of incidents, and in 50 percent of cases, respondents reported being “conscious but incapacitated by alcohol or drugs.” In 62 percent of cases, the perpetrator had consumed alcohol prior to the incident, and in 55 percent of cases, the victim had done so.
In response to incidents of NSC, 23 percent of students said they had contacted a Cornell or community-based resource, a “sizable increase from the 2023 survey when about 11% of students reported contacting a resource,” according to the overview.
According to the 2025 Annual Security Report released by the Cornell Division of Public Safety Clery Compliance Office on Sept. 4, 23 cases of on-campus rape were reported to in 2024, down from 28 in 2023 and 25 in 2022. However, the report only included cases reported to CUPD “regardless of whether there has been a criminal adjudication of the matter,” crimes provided by local municipal police departments and designated campus security authorities, which may not reflect the actual prevalence of NSC incidents.
The University statement noted that a Presidential Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault was created in spring 2025 to develop “a holistic framework for education, prevention, and response to sexual assault, with recommendations expected later this academic year.”
However, when the University established the taskforce, they claimed in a Feb. 6 statement that the task force would deliver a report by the summer.
The Task Force was created in the wake of several sexual misconduct incidents in fall 2025. An individual reported being drugged and sexually assaulted on Oct. 25, 2024 by multiple males at the Chi Phi fraternity house. Although the fraternity and several members were temporarily suspended, many students expressed frustration at what they said was the University’s lack of administrative response.
That fall, Noah Rebei ’25 was also arrested by CUPD after being discovered hiding under a female resident’s bed in William Keeton House on Oct. 30, 2024. He has been charged with second-degree criminal trespassing and third-degree assault.
According to the survey overview, the University is also developing a “Learning Where You Live ‘Sexual Citizenship’” academic course, and piloting an Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act Sexual Assault Resistance Program targeted towards women in Cornell sororities, partially funded by the President’s Council of Cornell Women. A yet-to-be-named “Men’s Program” training men in Cornell fraternities in violence prevention and intervention is also under development, according to the survey overview.
Although the 2025 SARM results are “consistent with national data and findings at peer institutions,” according to Tuesday’s statement, it concludes that “the findings highlight the need for continued strategic public health prevention efforts” to address sexual misconduct at Cornell.
The statement directs community members to a list of resources on the SHARE website.
“We encourage everyone at Cornell to review the full 2025 SARM report and data tables and to join us in our committed, ongoing efforts to foster a safer, more respectful campus environment for all,” the administrators wrote.
Update: November 7, 1:04 p.m.: This article has been updated to add three news graphs, indicating the percent of students who experience NSC involving force or incapacitation by type of student and NSC type and the percent of students who experience gender-based harassment since entering Cornell.
Iris Liang is a member of the class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a Senior Writer and can be reached her at iliang@cornellsun.com.
