"Cornell 7" Case Ignites National Day of Action Demanding Accountability for Sexual Assault Survivors

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On October 8, a Nationwide Day of Action brought together artists, activists, and survivors who collectively called on institutions to hold abusers accountable.

At the National Day of Action rally supporting survivors of sexual violence, held October 8, 2026, in Washington, DC, curator and activist Nadine Seiler raises her banner. (photo Michael A. McCoy for the Washington Post via Getty Images)

Washington, DC — On October 8, approximately 250 protesters assembled near the Washington Monument on the National Mall for a National Day of Action event demanding accountability and justice for sexual assault survivors. This demonstration was one of more than a dozen “I Am Jane Doe” protests that took place nationwide last week, “from the frat house to the White House,” as the Women’s March put it.

The National Day of Action came together mainly in response to allegations that seven Cornell University men, now called the “Cornell 7,” gang raped a female student and advertised the act in a fraternity Snapchat group. Two years ago, when the woman known as Jane Doe reported what happened, two of the accused men were expelled while the others were assigned essays to write. Two years following the university’s response, Jane Doe’s lawyer filed a new lawsuit.

At a rally on Foley Square in Manhattan, one protester raises a sign covered in artwork. (photo Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“We are in a moment of reckoning,” came the forceful declaration from Dani Bensky, who survived abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and now advocates for victims, speaking into the microphone. Among six speakers urging lawmakers to pass legislation that would hold abusers accountable were Alva Johnson, who worked on the 2016 campaign and came forward publicly with an accusation that Trump sexually assaulted her, along with Claire Barnett, pursuing her JD and serving as president of Advocates Against Sexual Violence at Georgetown Law.

Protestors cheered them on, raising signs that read “History Has Its Eyes on Us” and “Give Me Back My Girlhood, I Had It First.”

At the Washington, DC protest, artist Marta Pérez García displays her hand-painted jacket. (photo Emma Cieslik/Hyperallergic)

Nadine Seiler, an activist and curator recognized for her efforts preserving artworks on the Black Lives Matter memorial fence, was among the group. On one side of her poster she had spray-painted “I Am Jane Doe,” and on the other, “rapists are not victims” — a reply to the Cornell 7 and their supporters, who had argued that sharing these men’s photos and names online, as part of demands for justice, upended their lives. Speaking with Hyperallergic, Seiler said she found these arguments deeply offensive.

“I am a victim of sexual assault, and so are many people. Our experiences are important and life-changing,” Seiler said, adding that the argument that “boys will be boys is old.”

At Foley Square in New York, demonstrators dressed as characters from The Handmaid's Tale held signs denouncing systemic violence. (photo Bonnie Biess/Getty Images for Women's March)

On October 5, days prior, hundreds of students at Cornell held a rally on campus against the Ivy League institution's administration, voicing solidarity with Jane Doe and condemning what many describe as a toxic, openly sexist fraternity culture.

On October 5, 2026, Cornell students took part in a rally against the university. (photo Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Asked why this location was chosen for the demonstration, organizer Riley Reed explained to Hyperallergic that the goal was to place survivors and advocates in front of recognizable DC landmarks, with the Washington Monument obelisk visible behind them and the White House within view.

“It’s a big statement [that] we will not accept sexual abusers in the White House, and we have one currently in the White House,” said Reed, pointing to the numerous sexual assault accusations leveled against President Trump.

“We want to hold the leaders at the top accountable for their actions, and this is a pretty poetic and powerful spot between the Monument and the White House, which are symbols of power,” Reed continued.

According to organizers in DC, holding the protest on the National Mall was a choice with symbolic meaning. (photo Emma Cieslik/Hyperallergic)

More than a dozen protests occurred nationwide, among them one at the Boston Common in Massachusetts, where a participant carried a sign criticizing Cornell University's response to Jane Doe's allegations. (photo Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

For two hours the protest continued through speeches, chants, and finally music from two guitar-playing singers, urging Americans, as Johnson put it, to “vote the rape regime out of office.”

As the group dispersed after marching toward the White House, Johnson’s words lingered: “I am not afraid. They feed off fear, so we starve them with courage.”

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