Chair Farías frames hearing amid renewed sexual violence allegations
Farías cites the Cornell University case and the Tompkins County District Attorney reopening a 2024 assault investigation, saying gender-based violence exists in homes, campuses, workplaces, communities, and systems.
I want to begin by acknowledging the moment we are in.
Just this week, New Yorkers and women have once again been confronted with the painful realities of sexual violence through the allegations surrounding
former Cornell University students and the decision by the Tompkins County District Attorney to reopen the criminal investigation into the 2024 assault and rapes.
This case has raised renewed public questions about consent, institutional responsibility, and how systems respond when women report violence, and whether our laws and institutions are adequately equipped to protect survivors.
While that case is outside the jurisdiction of New York City, it is a reminder that gender-based violence does not exist in isolation.
It exists in our homes, on our campuses, in our workplaces, in our communities, and within the systems that are supposed to protect us.
And as a city, we are in a pivotal moment.
We have an opportunity and a responsibility to ensure that preventing and responding to gender-based violence remains a central priority for our government
and that survivors can access meaningful support and that our systems are coordinated, accountable, and equipped to respond to the realities women and gender expansive.
people face.