Ithaca, New York - Faculty members at Cornell University began a no-confidence vote Thursday over the university leadership's handling of sexual assault, after accusations of a gang rape sparked outcry in the US.

The 2024 incident, as alleged in a graphic lawsuit filed last month, saw a female student pressured to take ketamine, assaulted and raped by seven male students on campus.

Prosecutors have recently reopened a criminal investigation into the alleged gang rape, with state Attorney General Letitia James leading the case.

Cornell, an Ivy League institution in New York state, was widely accused of failing to properly punish the men involved.

The no-confidence vote opened Thursday and will run until next Friday. Its result is not binding but could represent a strong rebuke of Cornell president Michael Kotlikoff.

"Hundreds of students, staff, faculty and alumni approached the sponsors of this resolution to emphasize to us that the Jane Doe case is but a tip of the iceberg," said Paul Ortiz, the lead faculty sponsor of the resolution.

Jane Doe is the pseudonym granted to the accuser in the gang rape case, which allegedly happened at the Chi Phi fraternity -- one of several "Greek life" organizations common across US colleges.

Following her initial allegations, Cornell shut down the fraternity and temporarily suspended the accused male students, two of whom were later expelled.

But critics have said the university's response was too lenient, prompting it to launch an independent review.

Kotlikoff this month announced a string of preliminary responses, including suspending all fraternities' parties and social events for the remaining academic year.

"I am deeply sorry for the harm Jane Doe suffered in 2024, and appalled that this act of sexual violence occurred within our Cornell community," he said in a statement.

Cornell has named a former deputy attorney general, Sally Yates, to assess the university's response to the rape allegations.