Cornell 7: Every Statement Made It Worse but One

People are calling it the Cornell 7 case. In twelve days, Cornell, the Tompkins County district attorney, the mayor of Ithaca and Governor Kathy Hochul all put out statements about the same night in 2024. A former student, identified only as Jane Doe, has filed a civil lawsuit alleging she was drugged and sexually assaulted at a fraternity house. No one has been charged. Molly McPherson reads the statements one at a time and names the move in each.

Cornell's first statement says federal privacy law stops it from saying more. Molly looks up the law. Since 1998, FERPA has allowed a college to release the name, violation and sanction of a student found responsible for sexual assault, and Cornell chose not to. Cornell's second statement calls the criticism of its punishments irresponsible and says it will make survivors feel less safe. Molly calls that the blame flip, and asks the women who write these statements whether they could put their name on that line.

She also takes apart a defense lawyer's hair follicle test, the DA's complaint about the calls to his office, the mayor's moratorium and the Hochul statement that hit every note. She runs all of them through the same test. Own it, explain it, promise it.

She opens with why this one is personal. A professional crisis has a personal crisis baked into it, and the moves people use in statements are the moves they use in life.

Molly is a crisis communication and reputation management consultant, APR, and the host of The PR Breakdown. This episode was recorded live.

00:00 A personal crisis inside a professional one
01:51 What a move is
04:38 Guardrails, and what is only alleged
07:27 Cornell's first statement
08:53 The privacy shield
09:52 FERPA and the 1998 rule
12:32 Cornell won't, we will
13:09 Cornell's second statement
15:33 People don't like truth tellers
16:54 The blame flip
17:42 The New York Post headline
20:08 Own it, explain it, promise it
20:22 The defense lawyer's details
22:56 The hair follicle test
24:23 What would you do, Conor?
25:19 "A money grab"
26:27 Blame the victim
28:22 The DA's statement
29:34 The wah excuse
31:09 Apologize to your staff
31:48 Publishing her sworn statement
33:31 Nine pages to prove he was right
34:18 The statement I would have written
35:06 The mayor of Ithaca
37:26 Governor Kathy Hochul
37:53 Cornell's letter, finally signed
39:10 The only line that matters
39:28 What changed
40:36 Emotion and empathy
41:59 Closing

Every week I break down the biggest PR crises in the news: the slips, the moves, the scandals, and the lessons behind the headlines. I'm Molly McPherson, crisis and reputation strategist, known to my audience as the PR Lady. This channel is home base for the podcast and my weekly Substack live chats. Subscribe and follow along.

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