The Ithaca Common Council voted Wednesday night for a temporary moratorium on special event permits at Cornell University and called on the school to turn over investigations of “violent sex crimes” to the Ithaca Police Department.
The moratorium will apply to Cornell University, its residential and non-residential sorority and fraternity organizations, general student organizations and university student affiliations, according to Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo.
Effective immediately, the city will not issue new permits to affected parties for gatherings, parades, special events and noise. The moratorium, which is set to expire Nov. 5, passed 9-1 and is designed so the council can choose to renew it on a monthly basis.
Cantelmo said the council adopted the moratorium “based on substantial concerns regarding the safety, health and welfare of residents and visitors to the City of Ithaca.”
The council also amended the moratorium Wednesday evening to include a resolution “that the city calls on Cornell to turn over the investigation of violent sex crimes” to the Ithaca Police Department.
Cantelmo said the city is demanding the school do more to “punish, transparently monitor and prevent sexual violence on campus.”
The mayor proposed a moratorium on campus events following a civil suit filed last month by a former Cornell student, Jane Doewho claimed she was drugged and gang raped by seven fraternity brothers at the Chi Phi house in October 2024.
She reported the alleged assault to the Cornell University Police Department three weeks later. The department provided a summary of its allegations in a sworn statement to the prosecutor, who decided not to file charges. Ithaca police say they have not been notified of the case.
In response to a survey According to Cornell’s Title IX office, the school said two of the men were expelled, two were suspended for at least two semesters, one had already graduated before a sanction could be issued and two were not responsible for sexual misconduct.
After the woman filed her complaint and details of the allegations became public, New York Governor Kathy Hochul appointed state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor to review the case.
On Cornell’s campus, students have held rallies and protests to express anger over the school administration’s handling of the allegations and to express solidarity with survivors of sexual violence. On Monday, more than 1,000 people, including students, teachers and Ithaca residents, gathered to demand changes at the school. On Wednesday, more than 100 students staged a seven-hour sit-in in a dining hall.
A 2025 Cornell survey found that more than one in three undergraduate women have reported nonconsensual sexual contact involving force or incapacitation since entering the school. More than 49% of those surveyed reported harassment. The investigation identified campus-affiliated environments, such as residence halls and fraternity houses, as the location of most incidents.
Cecily Cox, a Cornell graduate student who opposes the moratorium, addressed the board Wednesday evening at the meeting where it was passed.
“Parties don’t cause sexual violence,” Cox told CBS News.
She took issue with the “ambiguity” of the moratorium and said it would affect more students than necessary.
This “should not be directed at all students and should not punish all students who had nothing to do with what was happening in the sexual assault case,” Cox said.
Cantelmo said the moratorium is not intended to be enforced in a way that would infringe on any student’s right to exercise freedom of religion, expression or peaceful assembly.
Other students, including Sam Poole, believe the moratorium is an opportunity for the city to put pressure on the school.
“Cornell is already feeling this pressure, and we need the city to maintain this moratorium until they actually make structural changes,” Poole said.
“Cornell will not protect survivors unless someone forces them to,” Poole added. “I think the city of Ithaca has the power to threaten what it cares about, which is its events.”
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