Members of the Evansville citizen action group River City Rising demonstrated across from the Evansville Civic Center Complex on Sunday, October 11, joining the national 'I Am Jane Doe' movement. Participants held signs and shared personal experiences and spoken words to close out the group's week of events.
The week also included a march at the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival on October 9. The movement supports a former Cornell University student known publicly as 'Jane Doe,' and raises awareness of sexual violence and of how survivors' accounts are believed.
In a lawsuit filed in September 2026, Doe alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted by several men at a Chi Phi fraternity house party at Cornell in October 2024. Seven men are named in the lawsuit; all seven have denied the allegations or said she consented. The allegations have not been proven in court.
The local district attorney in New York originally declined to pursue criminal charges. After the case was reopened in September 2026, New York's governor said on October 1 that she had lost faith in the prosecutor's ability to fairly oversee it and appointed the state attorney general as special prosecutor. The case remains under investigation.
River City Rising member Gina Paradies, herself a survivor, told reporters the national movement began in solidarity after attempts were made to publicly identify Doe. The group's demonstration in Evansville was one of many held in communities around the country.
