Two Women, Two Campuses, One System

This fall, two young women did something that should never take so much courage. They told the truth about what happened to them, out loud. One is known only as Jane Doe, a former Cornell University student. The other is Kendall Francis, a first-generation student at Louisiana State University. Their stories, told within days of each other in September, opened a door. Women stood up at a Cornell student hearing to describe their own assaults, women across the country posted their stories online, and more than 1,000 Cornell alumni signed a letter describing “decades of Jane Does.”

At IAWH Health, we believe women’s health includes the right to be safe in body and mind, and to be believed. This month, we honor these two young women who refused to be silent.

Jane Doe, Cornell University

We cannot tell you Jane Doe’s name. We can tell you what she did.

In October 2024, when she was 20, she went to the Chi Phi fraternity house to see a friend. According to the lawsuit she filed this September, she was given alcohol and drugs until she could not consent, and then sexually assaulted by several fraternity members. The seven men named deny wrongdoing.

She did what survivors are told to do. She reported to campus police and the campus health clinic. Cornell suspended the fraternity and disciplined students, but the local district attorney declined to file charges. Nearly two years later, her lawsuit changed everything: the criminal case was reopened, New York’s Attorney General was named special prosecutor, and about 1,000 students and faculty rallied on campus. Cornell has since named Sally Yates to lead an independent review and suspended fraternity social events for the year. As of late October, no charges have been filed, and the facts remain in dispute.

What is not in dispute is the cost of speaking. Her attorney says she, and women mistaken for her, have received threats. She has chosen to remain anonymous, and that choice deserves protection.

Kendall Francis, Louisiana State University

Kendall Francis chose to tell her story under her own name. In a September TikTok video, the first-generation LSU student described what she says happened in October 2025, when she visited a football player she had met on social media at his dorm. She has chosen not to name him, and we honor that.

She, too, did what survivors are told to do. She went to the hospital for a sexual assault exam and filed a Title IX complaint. LSU found the player responsible for sexual assault and forcible rape and suspended him for a year. Then, on appeal, LSU kept its finding but replaced the suspension with probation without restrictions. He stayed on the team. He maintains his innocence through his attorneys.

She learned the outcome by email. She says she has been in treatment for anxiety, and she now takes her classes online. Eight days after her video, the local district attorney opened a criminal investigation, which is ongoing.

What Connects Them

Two campuses, two different cases, one pattern. Both women reported. Both went through campus processes that produced findings but not lasting accountability. Neither saw prosecutors act until she went public. And both carried the cost, while the institutions around the accused, a fraternity system and a football program, stayed largely intact.

The Health Toll

Sexual assault is a public health crisis, and its effects reach far beyond the moment of harm. Survivors face higher rates of post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety, along with lost sleep, falling grades, and interrupted degrees. Reporting can add its own harm: retelling trauma again and again, waiting months, and sometimes watching a sanction reversed.

The body keeps the record. The harm does not stay in the mind. In a 2018 University of Pittsburgh study of 304 midlife women, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, women with a history of sexual assault had nearly three times the odds of clinically elevated depressive symptoms, and more than twice the odds of anxiety and poor sleep. Workplace sexual harassment was linked to more than twice the odds of high blood pressure. Chronic stress, broken sleep, and depression are all risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic conditions that shape women’s health for decades.

Often, it is not the first trauma. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, neglect, and growing up with violence in the home, are common. The CDC reports that more than half of U.S. adults have had at least one, and about one in six have had four or more. Women and Black Americans are more likely to report four or more. ACEs are linked to at least five of the 10 leading causes of death, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. The CDC estimates that preventing ACEs could avoid up to 1.9 million cases of heart disease and 21 million cases of depression.

And race and class shape who is believed. Kendall Francis is a Black, first-generation student, and Black women are too often seen as less credible and less in need of protection. These are equity issues, and IAWH’s mission compels us to name them.

What We Can Do

• Students: Title IX and the criminal justice system are separate tracks; choosing one does not start the other. A forensic exam preserves evidence and keeps your options open, even if you are not ready to decide about reporting. A confidential advocate works for you, not the institution.
• Parents and families: Talk with your student before college about consent and how to get help. If she tells you something happened, believe her first. Questions can come later.
• Campuses: Make the line between campus discipline and criminal reporting clear to every student. Treat a finding of rape as a finding of rape, no matter the student’s athletic or social standing. Fund advocates and mental health care so survivors can stay enrolled.

Journal readers and the wider community

• Stay informed: Follow these cases and the changing federal rules on Title IX, which have shifted with each administration. If you have a college-bound student, read the school’s Annual Security Report, which the federal Clery Act requires every college that receives federal aid to publish, and ask whether it shares campus climate survey results.
• Advocate: Ask your alma mater, your local colleges, and your elected officials how they support survivors and what happens when a student is found responsible. Support survivor-led groups such as Know Your IX and End Rape on Campus.
• Educate: Host a screening of The Hunting Ground with your book club, congregation, sorority, or community group, and talk about it afterward. Share this issue with someone who needs it.
• Respond with care: If someone confides in you, start with: “I believe you. It’s not your fault. How can I help?” Let her decide what comes next.
• Step in: Learn simple bystander strategies, like creating a distraction or checking in with a friend who seems at risk. It’s On Us offers free resources.

Churches and faith communities

For many women, a pastor, imam, rabbi, or trusted church mother is the first person they tell. Faith communities can be places of refuge, or places where survivors are told to stay quiet and forgive. They can choose to be a refuge.

• Speak about it from the pulpit. Name sexual violence in sermons, prayers, and Bible or scripture study, especially in October and during Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April. Silence from leaders is heard as a message.
• Believe first, refer second. Train clergy, ministers, and lay leaders to respond with belief and to connect survivors with advocates, counselors, and medical care. Spiritual support works alongside professional help, not instead of it. Forgiveness is never a requirement for safety or healing.
• Know your local resources. Keep the RAINN hotline and the number of your local rape crisis center in bulletins, restrooms, and on your website, where people can find them privately.
• Prepare your students. Before college send-offs, use youth ministry and college prayer services to talk with young people about consent, safety, and how to get help.
• Partner and open your doors. Host a screening of The Hunting Ground, a support group, or a training led by a local sexual assault program.
• Protect people inside your walls, too. Adopt clear safeguarding policies, screening, and reporting procedures for staff and volunteers, and follow them even when the person accused is respected.

FaithTrust Institute and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center offer free guides for faith leaders.

← Back to the IAWH Health Journal Archive