Editor’s note: This article references sexual violence.
Cornell Black Students United and Cornell NAACP will host a seven-hour sit-in on Wednesday at Toni Morrison Dining Hall in solidarity with Jane Doe, the plaintiff in the lawsuit alleging a 2024 gang rape at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house. The event also supports “all survivors of sexual assault and sexual violence.”
The sit-in, which will span 1:30 to 8:30 p.m., is part of a larger student-run initiative called, “Zero Day,” spearheaded by Cornell BSU and NAACP, described as a “campus-wide economic blackout.” The day is meant to bring attention to sexual violence at Cornell, according to the organizations’ joint Sunday post.
Depending on University policy and organizers, the sit-in may include speeches, survivor support resources, periods of silence, sign-making, reading of demands and updates from organizers, according to the organizers.
The blackout calls for students to skip class and halt all spending on campus, including spending money at the Cornell Store, at campus eateries, on printing services and on vending machines, along with using meal swipes and Big Red Bucks.
The sit-in and economic boycott come after a former Cornell student, identified as Jane Doe, filed a Sept. 14 lawsuit alleging that she was sexually assaulted and gang raped after being coerced into consuming drugs at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024. The case, and conversations of how it was handled, have sparked national uproar.
The sit-in will be seven hours long “for the seven hours she endured,” the post states.
According to the lawsuit, Doe alleges she left for the Chi Phi house at 11 p.m. She claims she was pressured into snorting ketamine, along with being “plied” with marijuana and what is alleged to have been high-proof rum. Defendants allegedly then engaged in sexual acts with Doe “all without her consent,” according to the lawsuit.
At 1:42 a.m. a defendant was alleged to have sent a message about “free pussy” to a Snapchat group entitled “Chi Phi Actives.” Doe alleged she was then sexually assaulted by multiple defendants until around 5:45 a.m., when she claims the alleged assault ended.
Co-sponsored by Mecha de Cornell and Students for a Democratic Cornell, the joint post states that Jane Doe’s case “reflects a system that too often protects reputations over survivors.”
Athena Holloway ’27, former BSU president and current NAACP president, told The Sun that the sit-in is an opportunity to continue placing pressure on the University to meet their demands. She encouraged both students and faculty to participate.
Holloway referred to the five demands listed an Oct. 1 Instagram post in coordination with other campus organizers, which called for Cornell to expel or revoke the degrees of all “complicit” in Jane Doe’s alleged assault, rewrite its policy on sexual misconduct, establish mandatory sexual assault prevention training and act in “full compliance” with the New York State “Enough is Enough” law.
The law addresses “sexual assault, dating violence and stalking” on all state higher education institutions, requiring them to adopt “comprehensive procedures and guidelines,” a “uniform definition of affirmative consent,” an amnesty policy for those who report sexual assault and a students’ bill of rights. It additionally calls for campuses to take campus climate surveys and have “prevention and awareness training.”
These demands, made in conjunction with other campus organizers, were voiced at a Monday “Justice for Survivors” protest on Ho Plaza which drew thousands.
“It’s imperative that we continue on and also show that there [are] many more actions to come, especially when it comes to an issue like [sexual violence] that has been long overdue,” Holloway told The Sun.
The demands also include an external review of the University’s administration, a sentiment echoed by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and called for by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.). The goal of the blackout, as explained in a guide created by the two organizations, is for spending and participation across campus to “visibly decrease.”
Holloway explained that the format of the protest allows for everyone to be involved in the zero spending demonstration.
“Whatever level of participation students are at — if they want to participate in the sit-in or if they want to participate in the zero spending, the no spending at the Cornell store, the no BRBs — it’s a way for everyone to get involved, even faculty,” Holloway said.
The guide asks participants of Zero Day to not interfere with dining workers’ or other staff members’ job duties and to “keep entrances, exits, and work areas accessible.”
“Our pressure is on the institution,” the guide reads. “Our solidarity extends to its workers.”
Holloway mentioned that BSU and NAACP are in the process of acquiring food for participants of the sit-in.
BSU Political Action Chair Jordanne Nichols ’27 added that the windows surrounding Toni Morrison Dining Hall allow passersby to look in, and its location in the middle of North campus makes it a “very visible” place on campus.
Zero Day comes as several student organizations across campus organize events calling for attention to the alleged 2024 Chi Phi gang rape and sexual violence on campus.
Twenty student organizations hosted a “Justice for Survivors” protest calling for sexual assault prevention on Monday on Ho Plaza. On Tuesday, a town hall was held at Willard Straight Hall inviting students to speak on “sexual violence, accountability, and student safety at Cornell” co-sponsored by Cornell Planned Parenthood, SDC, the Wanawake Wa Wari Cooperative and the Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program.
Holloway said all organizations involved in these events helped plan the Zero Day, “as each action is an extension of another.”
Holloway, Nichols and NAACP Executive Vice President Bethany Jarrett ’28 said that Zero Day aims to continue the “momentum” of student organizing around the 2024 Chi Phi case and sexual violence awareness on campus.
“We really just want Jane Doe to know that we care about her,” Jarrett told The Sun. “There are students at Cornell, so many people who believe her, who want her to get the justice that she deserves through these demands and through working with admin to ensure that nothing like what she has to go through ever happens again at the hands of Cornell.”
Shubha Gautam is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is an assistant news editor for the 144th Editorial Board and can be reached at sgautam@cornellsun.com.
