Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates will lead an independent review of how Cornell University handles sexual assault complaints.

Cornell's trustees announced the review after days of anger and a large protest over the school's response to a woman known in court papers as Jane Doe, the Associated Press reported. She told campus police in November 2024 that she had been sexually assaulted at the Chi Phi fraternity house a few weeks earlier. The case is known as the "Cornell 7."

"I can say with 100% confidence I was raped," she told police, according to a transcript obtained by CBS News and cited by Fox News. The university's own investigation led to expulsions and suspensions. Local prosecutors initially declined to bring charges. They say they never received the full campus police interview.

Yates and her law firm, King & Spalding, will have access to case files, records on Greek life, communications with police and disciplinary hearing records. The review will also look at how campus police respond to reports. "It is imperative that Cornell be willing to examine itself with the same rigor we expect of others," trustee Chair Anne Meinig Smalling said.

Yates served under President Barack Obama. Trump fired her in 2017 after she refused to defend his first travel ban.

The case has also drawn political fire. Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican who has said she is a rape survivor, wrote on X on Thursday, "a consensual gangbang is not a rape," The Independent reported. Her post appeared to refer to the Cornell case and drew wide criticism.

Jane Doe has also filed a civil lawsuit.

What we know: Cornell hired Sally Yates to review how it handles sexual assault claims after a woman said she was gang-raped at a fraternity in 2024.
What we don't: When Yates will finish her review and whether her findings will be made public.