A broad range of Rochester-area community organizations will hold a Stop Sexual Violence Rally on from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Washington Square Park in downtown Rochester.
This comes after a former Cornell University student alleged that she was gang raped by several men at the Chi Phi fraternity at Cornell in 2024. The woman known as Jane Doe is currently suing the University for allegedly failing to protect her and hold the accused accountable.
Rally organizers are calling for systemic changes to how survivors of sexual violence can be questioned, blamed, disbelieved, or discouraged from reporting.
Monroe County legislator Rachel Barnhart will speak at the rally and says it is time to demand accountability and meaningful action to stop sexual violence.
“We have to ask what we are doing here, why isn’t this problem solved, why is this still going on, and I think Jane Doe’s case is forcing a reckoning,” Barnhart said.
Rally organizers include the Greater Rochester Chapter of the National Organization for Women and Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York.
