Syracuse, N.Y. – Syracuse University has settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who was sexually assaulted in her dorm room in 2020 by a fellow student.
On Friday, lawyers for the victim and the university filed paperwork in court saying the lawsuit would be dropped. That came a month after the lawyers informed the judge they had reached a settlement in the case.
The terms of the settlement were not outlined in court documents.
Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard reached out to attorneys for the victim and the university for comment on the settlement.
The lawsuit against the attacker, Jacob Cohen, who was 19 years old at the time of the attack, is still pending.
Cohen was criminally charged in December 2020. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse and third-degree rape.
He was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years of probation. A judge also ordered that he has to register as a sex offender for life.
On Aug. 28, 2020, the female student bringing the lawsuit, who is only identified as Jane Doe, and her roommate were sleeping in their dorm when Cohen entered their room without permission and assaulted them.
Cohen yanked the victim’s pants down and began kissing her neck. She woke up and pushed Cohen away asking who he was and what he was doing in her room.
Both women were incapacitated by alcohol at the time of the assault.
Cohen told the woman he was looking for something and she told him to leave, the lawsuit said. She left the dorm room and returned minutes later with others to confront Cohen.
The two women reported the assault to the university’s Department of Public Safety.
The lawsuit said that after the attack the university did not remove Cohen from the dorm building where he and the two women lived. No restrictions were placed on Cohen’s ability to return to the suite or to confront the women, the lawsuit said.
On Aug. 29, Cohen allegedly harassed one of the victims, according to the lawsuit.
A final confrontation ended with Cohen engaging in a physical fight with another male resident of the dorm. Cohen reported to DPS that he had been assaulted.
Cohen was moved to another dorm to protect him from further altercations, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit said that the university did not do its due diligence to provide a safe environment or prevent students from being victimized after being sexually assaulted the university broke the contract it entered when it accepted the student’s tuition.
The university was also accused of handling the matter insensitively by retraumatizing the victim during a Zoom call that included Cohen. She believed she would be speaking to a university official alone but was instead subjected to questioning by Cohen’s legal counsel.
When the University first responded to the lawsuit in February 2024, it denied the allegation that the victim was never made aware Cohen and his lawyer would be on the Zoom call.
The university also denied that its handling of the situation was inappropriate.
After the settlement was reached, the victim and the university agreed that she could not file another lawsuit against the university regarding its handling of the assault and subsequent investigation.
Staff writer Anne Hayes covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? You can reach her at ahayes@syracuse.com.