Who Hears Your Title IX Appeal? At Cornell, Two of the Three Are Top Administrators
As Cornell's faculty votes on no confidence in its leadership, the university's own rules show two senior administrators sit on every three-member Title IX appeal panel. Here is who decides what, and when to object.
October 28, 2026 · 3 min read
By Jocelyn C. Stewart
Cornell's Faculty Senate finished debating a no-confidence resolution on Wednesday. The target is the central administration and its handling of sexual assault. If you are a student facing a case there, know this: under Cornell's rules, two senior administrators also sit on every appeal panel.
The vote. Online voting runs through Nov. 6, both The Associated Press, via PBS NewsHour, and The Cornell Daily Sun report. ABC News described a five-day voting window instead. All three call the resolution symbolic. The Sun adds that senators voted 48-76 against waiting for Sally Yates's outside review.
The case behind it. A former student, Jane Doe, alleges in a September lawsuit that she was sexually assaulted at the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024, as the AP, ABC News and the Sun all report. Those are allegations. The AP reports that all seven men deny them. ABC News says no one has been criminally charged.
What the president said. President Michael Kotlikoff has said the Title IX process followed school policy and federal law, according to ABC News. He told faculty he had not read the campus police report, the AP reports, because policy generally keeps top administrators out of criminal investigations.
Who decides what. A panel of faculty and staff decides responsibility and sanctions. Appeals go to a three-member panel. Cornell's student procedures under Policy 6.4 make the Provost and the Vice President for Student and Campus Life permanent members.
Why it matters to you. Learn who sits at each step, and the deadline to object.
Her law firm's website explains how military appellate courts handle judicial disqualification and structural error.