Cornell’s Presidential Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault released a set of “final recommendations” for the University via a Tuesday email to the Cornell community. The recommendations addressed the results of the 2025 Cornell Survey on Sexual Assault and Related Misconduct, which saw a campus-wide increase in all measures of sexual assault and misconduct at Cornell.
This report “identifies strategies to target social conditions that enable assault and to foster a sexually safe and healthy campus,” according to the email, which was signed by President Michael Kotlikoff and Provost Kavita Bala. The recommendations follow eight months of “research and community conversations,” according to the Cornell Chronicle.
The task force comprises 19 members including students, professors and administrators. It was created in February 2025 with the goal of “developing and recommending a holistic framework for addressing and preventing sexual assaults on campus,” according to its website.
In its recommendations, the task force calls on the University to improve its information sharing, including improvements to sexual education and accountability-based websites, development of new “sexual citizenship” courses, initiatives toward increased physical safety and non-classroom programming.
These recommendations focus on “improving communication, education, transparency, and access to resources” and to “ensure students are well-informed and supported as we work to confront sexual assault at Cornell,” according to the email.
Projects such as in-person programming at new student orientation, the incorporation of sexual citizenship content into first-year advising classes and an interactive decision tree on the Cornell Office of Civil Rights website will all begin in Fall 2026.
The Sun spoke with the co-chairs of the task force, Rachel Dunifon, the dean of the College of Human Ecology, and Marla Love, the dean of students, to discuss the final recommendations and how they plan on enacting them.
Dunifon told The Sun that her and Love’s next steps would be creating an “implementation committee or working group” to move forward recommendations as the task force enters its “implementation phase.”
“A critical part of all of it will be student voices,” Dunifon said, explaining how the implementation phase will prioritize involvement with student groups.
During the research process, the task force conducted over a dozen focus groups featuring students, including the Student & Campus Life Undergraduate Leadership Council, Panhellenic Council sorority members, Interfraternity Council members, randomly selected students who were in Ithaca over the summer, student athletes, LatinX student organization members, the Black Student Union executive board, North Campus resident advisors and LGBT Resource Center student staff. They also heard from staff and faculty, including faculty in residence, varsity athletic coaches, college advisors and Counseling and Physical Services counselors.
When asked about why specific groups were chosen, Love told The Sun that one of their priorities was connecting with Black, Latinx and queer students and “recognizing identity and the research around sexual assault as it relates to various identity groups.”
Love added that additional focus groups were conducted with the Gender Equity Research Center and the Gender Justice Advocacy Coalition, and that people involved in the focus groups also provided feedback to the committee in later meetings.
Dunifon added that she observed common themes while conducting focus groups during the research process for the recommendations, including desire for “more education coursework” and “peer-led programming.”
“That process is what informed these recommendations,” Dunifon said.
The task force recommended direct initiatives in its report, as well, including development of courses such as a full semester, three-credit class on “sexual citizenship,” an “institutionally run shuttle service or alternative” aimed at safe transportation at night, sexual knowledge information sessions for first-year students, training and resources for Greek Life organizations and workshops that address alcohol and drugs and their intersection with sexual assault, according to the report.
The task force categorized these recommendations into “short-term” and “medium-term” goals, with impact being categorized as “critical” or “ideal.”
Kotlikoff and Bala established the task force in February 2025 following concerns surrounding an instance of sexual assault on campus during Fall 2024 semester after an individual reported being sexually assaulted and coerced into consuming drugs by multiple men at the Chi Phi house. Campus police also arrested a student after he was discovered under the bed of a female resident in William Keeton House in December 2024.
“This report builds on over a decade of prevention and education work at Cornell and provides a roadmap for fostering safety for all students,” Kotlikoff said in an interview with the Chronicle.
The November survey found that 35% of undergraduate women reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact during their time at Cornell, an increase from the 23% of women reported in the 2023 survey. Eight percent of undergraduate men reported nonconsensual sexual contact in 2025, compared to 9% in 2023. The Cornell survey of Sexual Assault and Related Misconduct is conducted every two years.
The report referred to the rates of sexual assault on campus as “unacceptably high and persistent,” explaining how the task force was created to address them.
The report noted the response rate for students in the 2025 survey was 13% compared to 36% in 2023.
“I think across all of survey science and survey research, we just need different ways of reaching students,” Dunifon told The Sun, referring to email being the main mode of communication when asking students to fill out the survey. Dunifon also mentioned working with the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, who is responsible for the survey.
To create the recommendations, the task force used research from the book Sexual Citizens: Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus by Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan, consulted peer institutions’ approach to sexual health, consulted with Cornell’s Sexual Assault and Prevention Safety club, sent out an anonymous survey to students asking about sexual experiences and safety and held over a dozen focus groups.
Inspiration for many of the ideas was drawn from other universities including Louisiana State University, Texas Tech, Brown University, Syracuse University, Penn State and Tulane, according to the report.
The task force also recommended that Cornell launch a “high-profile fundraising initiative” in the report to carry out recommendations. Dunifon mentioned outreach to nonprofit organizations, alumni and philanthropy as future options for fundraising in an interview with The Sun.
Dunifon also referenced a need for community and student engagement.
The Tuesday email also contains a Zoom link to a virtual town hall open to the public, where attendees will “learn more and participate in next steps,” at 4:30 p.m. on March 25.
“A big part of this report is on accountability,” Dunifon said. “All of this work requires commitment from every single member of our community.”
Everett Chambala is a member of the Class of 2027 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is a staff writer for the News department and can be reached at echambala@cornellsun.com.
