The woman filed a civil lawsuit on September 16, claiming she was drugged and raped by multiple people at the fraternity house. Van Houten said Monday the case will go to a grand jury once prosecutors settle on appropriate charges.
Van Houten said the goal is to handle the case "in the most objective and impartial means possible" by letting a grand jury decide. Cornell University responded by saying it supports the case going before a grand jury, though the school pushed back on any suggestion tied to how it handled the matter.
For the woman at the center of the case, the move means a criminal process that had apparently stalled is now moving again, more than a year after the alleged assault happened. It also puts Cornell back in the spotlight over how it responds to allegations involving its Greek life system, a topic that has drawn national scrutiny on other campuses in recent years.
No charges have been filed yet, and the grand jury has not been asked to weigh in.