Earlier this month, a student journalist named Cereese Qusba published the breaking campus story about the alleged s****l assault that occurred on the Cornell University campus in 2024.Qusba is a New York resident and a government student at Cornell University. She is also a senior editor and writer of the school’s independent, student-led newspaper Cornell Daily Sun, where the story was published.Cereese is now receiving praise online, including from news creator and social media influencer Ariana Jasmine. On Thursday, Jasmine shared a video on Threads revealing how Qusba stayed on the story for two years and captioned her post:“Cereese Qusba deserves the Pulitzer.”On Tuesday night, Cereese Qusba and the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Sophia Dasser appeared on CNN’s Erin Burnett Outfront and mentioned that they refused to “sugarcoat anything in our coverage.” However, the duo didn’t expect their story to go viral or national.They are now demanding accountability from the university and the local authorities, including the District Attorney. Qusba and Dasser noted that they have been receiving a “huge wave of solidarity and kinship with Jane Doe.”“We are students. We have the right to demand safety from our university administrators, and we have the right to demand things like anonymized data reports of outcomes and sanctions and punishments from cases that were reported,” Sophia shared. View this post on Instagram Instagram PostMeanwhile, Cereese Qusba told The Cut earlier this week:“It had been over a year since that happened and I started to look into this case because I thought it was something really important and worthy of reporting, that it should not get missed at all. I was able to do background investigative research on Cornell’s policy and have gathered as much information as I could so that, when the lawsuit dropped, we were well prepared to break the story.”Qusba, with the support of Dasser, published the story on Cornell Daily Sun just after the alleged victim filed a civil lawsuit on September 16.All you need to know about Cornell student journalist Cereese QusbaAccording to her LinkedIn, Cereese Qusba earned her high school diploma from Rudolph Steiner School in New York City. She joined Cornell University in 2023 on a traditional fellowship.Qusba has interned with Professor Natasha Chaku at Indiana University Bloomington and NYC Councilmember Yusef Salaam. She was also a campaign volunteer for New York State Assemblymember Jordan Wright.At Cornell Daily Sun, Cereese Qusba has worn many hats, including staff writer, news writer, and news editor. For the last two years, she has been a member of the Cornell University Parole Initiative (CUPI) as a legal volunteer and executive board recruitment director.Since 2025, Qusba has been a news reporter for The Ithaca Voice.After Jane Doe’s civil suit and Cereese Qusba’s story went viral, the latter told The Cut:“We made some bold decisions. We also took a very confrontational approach to the university’s process and lack of transparency… To do it and then to watch social media and all media really take the story and kind of run with it… It’s been really interesting to watch the media do its thing. Now, I’m getting flyers for protests and ‘The Cornell Seven’ as a subject line in my inbox.”In her civil suit, a former student of Cornell University accused seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity of drugging and gang-r****g her in 2024. Later, Cereese Qusba’s story named the seven alleged r****ts.“We refuse to let this victim be reduced to just another story. Cornell has failed to protect its students. Cornell has failed to address the growing issue of s****l assault on campus with its pathetic task force. Cornell has failed the student allegedly r***d by those seven men at Chi Phi in October 2024. Cornell has failed her. Cornell has failed us,” Qusba wrote.The U.S. media outlets identified the alleged victim as a Jane Doe and reported that the university expelled two of the accused, and the five others got away with lesser punishments, including suspension, workshop attendance, and essay writing. None of the seven faced any criminal charges. Jane Doe later dropped out.Cereese’s viral story on Cornell Daily Sun also noted that in 2024, the students received an email notifying them of an “incident” that took place, following which Qusba began to investigate, including reaching out to Jane Doe, her attorneys, and jotting down how the school failed to protect her.According to Jane Doe’s lawsuit, she complained to the Cornell and law enforcement authorities at the time that she was r***d. However, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten claimed that the plaintiff’s original statement noted that the acts were “voluntary, conscious and consensual.” Houten has reopened the investigation and has decided to present the case to a grand jury after finding additional evidence.Meanwhile, Cornell released a statement claiming they took such incidents “extremely seriously” and that the Xi chapter of Chi Phi fraternity was “barred” from the campus.According to U.S. media reports, the university’s Office of Civil Rights and Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards “investigated and adjudicated” the allegations “consistent with university policies” in 2024.