Don’t Let Outrage Be the End of the Cornell Conversation
Don’t Let Outrage Be the End of the Cornell Conversation
By Amanda Walsh
Deputy Director of External Affairs, Victim Rights Law Center
Like so many others, we’ve spent much of the last week thinking about Jane Doe, the Cornell student whose experience has brought campus sexual violence back into the national spotlight.
I’ve wondered what she thinks about the public outcry on her behalf. How she must feel to see the details of her experience debated publicly, to watch attorneys for the accused students attack her credibility, and websites created about her experience.
I imagine her standing in line at the grocery store and overhearing people discuss what she could have done differently. What they would have done differently. Does she open social media apps and see the faces of the students who hurt her on a loop like so many of us have?
Yet, despite the country’s current fixation on this case, most people don’t realize that in the background student-survivors’ rights continued to be eroded and dismantled. On September 28th, the Trump administration officially rescinded 2024 Title IX regulations, which were designed to strengthen schools’ obligations to address sexual violence. More than 240,000 comments were submitted in 2022 when the Biden administration announced its intention to revise the Trump-era rule, a remarkable demonstration of how many people believed these changes were necessary.
At the same time, Trump and United States Secretary of Education Linda McMahon continue to systematically dismantle the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the entity students turn to when their schools fail to respond appropriately to campus sexual violence, dating violence, stalking and other forms of sex-based discrimination. A June 2026 report from the Department of Education’s Inspector General notes that 291 of 346 OCR employees were lost following a “reduction in force.” These staffing cuts align with the administration’s priorities, or lack thereof. Since taking office, the administration has resolved only a single complaint of sexual harassment.
For parents, alumni, educators, advocates, attorneys, and anyone who cares about the safety of students, this moment can be an entry point into a much larger conversation: What happens when a student reports sexual violence? What obligations does a school have? What happens when the school gets it wrong? And what options remain when the federal systems designed to provide accountability are weakened?
Jane Doe should not have to carry the weight of answering those questions. Neither should any survivor. It is our collective responsibility to create the type of community we want to live in.
Our hope is that this case becomes a door, not just to outrage, but to understanding. A door for allies to learn how campus sexual assault is addressed, to understand what survivors are up against, and to join those working to protect and strengthen the legal avenues survivors have to seek safety, accountability, and justice.
- Write to your reps and demand more enforcement by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
- Acknowledge the bravery of both Jane Doe and the student journalist, Cereese Qusba, who broke the story in your own conversations.
- Contact your alma mater’s President or Vice President for Student Affairs and ask about the school’s investment in sexual assault prevention and response.
- Follow a local sexual assault program or rape crisis center on social media and uplift their work.
National conversations like this are triggering for all survivors, including those who have never disclosed what happened to them. If you’re looking for a program in your area, click here or contact us and we can connect you.
Amanda Walsh (she/her) joined VRLC in 2011 because it was one of the few organizations working on Title IX issues at the time. Since then, she’s walked alongside hundreds of K-12 and higher ed students and their families as they try to stabilize their education in the aftermath of a sexual assault.
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