NSU students protest over ex-Cornell student admitted amid rape allegations

Broward County admin October 17, 2026 0 Comments

NSU students protest over ex-Cornell student admitted amid rape allegations

A group of Nova Southeastern University students protested Thursday against the recent admission of one of their classmates after piecing together that he was one of seven men accused in a 2024 gang rape case at a Cornell University fraternity house.

“A majority of our student body is women, and we’re all kind of concerned about his presence and the lack of transparency on whether he is still a student or not,” senior Peter Sader told the Miami Herald. “And we’re simply making the statement to publicly show that NSU students stand in support of survivors of sexual assault.”

Sader was among about a dozen NSU students who carried signs saying “justice for survivors” and “end victim blaming,” wrote messages in chalk and handed out flyers with sexual assault support resources as they protested in front of the Alvin Sherman Library at the private university’s Davie campus.

They were upset that NSU’s administrators haven’t been forthcoming enough at a school where female students make up roughly 75% of graduates.

NSU representatives said Thursday they’re barred from saying much about the admission or discipline of the student in question due to federal privacy laws.

The student is believed to be 21-year-old Jonathan Newell, one of the seven Cornell fraternity brothers named in a highly publicized New York civil lawsuit filed last month by a former female Cornell student. That student, who is listed as plaintiff Jane Doe in the suit, alleges Newell and six of his Chi Pi brothers raped her after pressuring her to snort ketamine and plied her with marijuana and alcohol in an October 2024 incident at the frat house, the suit says.

The New York Times identified Newell as one of two students who was expelled as a result of the October 2024 incident, in which he’s also accused of writing “free p—-” in a fraternity group chat. Cornell University would not confirm whether Newell was expelled, citing federal statutes protecting students’ privacy.

Thomas Giuffra, the attorney for the woman who filed the suit, told CBS News his client dropped out of Cornell after the incident.

NSU’s president and CEO, Harry K. Moon, said in an Oct. 4 statement that the Broward university didn’t know about the student’s past.

“At the time of admission, the university was not aware of allegations subsequently reported in media,” Moon wrote. “Once we learned of the reported incident, we acted immediately on behalf of the safety and well-being of our students and the NSU community.”

A university spokesperson declined to share more details about how the school took action, citing federal student privacy laws.

NSU junior Arianna Saldana said she wished her school would take a “stronger stance” to safeguard students after Moon said the administration didn’t know about the allegations.

“I was like, that’s a shock that you’re not looking into the students, and the fact that somebody transferred here with all this stuff going on,” she said.

The protesters showed up in the hot midday sun not only to object to a particular case but to stand in solidarity with sexual assault survivors.

“I think that it’s wonderful to see that there’s a lot of students that are willing to stand up for change, and they agree that we shouldn’t be allowing this to happen,” Saldana said.

Senior Gabriella Flora, who helped organize the demonstration, said she didn’t know Newell but was one of many who learned he may have attended her school via Fizz, an anonymous college campus app that requires an .edu email to join.

One poster circulated a photo of Newell at campus orientation alongside a photo that came out during the aftermath of the lawsuit.

The Tompkins County District Attorney in New York opted not to pursue criminal charges, but after outrage arose from the lawsuit’s filing in September, the governor tapped New York State Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to take over the investigation, which the DA had reopened after the suit.

“I know several of my friends have had him at their homes, during parties and stuff, and they had actually mentioned that he was a very rude kind of individual, like not a great guy …” Flora said.

An NSU student confirmed to the Herald in a previous interview that an email registered under the name Jonathan Newell that previously appeared in a school directory has since disappeared.

One major question surrounding the issue is what NSU knew about Newell, a 2023 graduate of the college prep school affiliated with NSU and is often referred to as USchool.

According to NSU’s page for transfer applicants, prospective students can go through a preliminary application review with just an unofficial transcript, but students must submit their official transcripts when they enroll.

For Cornell students who are transferring to another university, their official transcript is supposed to note whether a student has been suspended or expelled after a conduct investigation, or even if they left while an investigation was ongoing, according to Cornell’s website.

The Miami Herald reached out to Cornell for more information about when Newell left the university or whether his transcript had a notation about any disciplinary actions, but a university spokesperson said that information was protected under student privacy laws.

On Tuesday, Cornell announced it has banned frat house parties for the remainder of the academic year and will add experienced sexual assault investigators to work with its police force.