Syracuse University Faces Appeal Over Suppressed 1980s Assault Records

A former student, identified in filings as Jane Doe, alleges she was attacked with a knife in a bathroom on the third floor of Syracuse University’s music building in February 1987. Represented by Andrew Stengel, she sued the university under New York’s Adult Survivors Act. After the Syracuse Police Department agreed to provide archival police reports, the university moved to block the subpoena, arguing it was “overbroad.” New York state court Judge Joseph Lamendola granted the motion in February, limiting disclosure to incidents that occurred inside university buildings and excluding reports from the surrounding Thornden Park area and nearby student housing. The decision was appealed in June, sending the matter to a state appellate court.

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The 1980s saw a surge of sexual assaults in and around the Syracuse campus. ProPublica’s investigation linked more than a dozen rapes and attacks to a half-square-mile zone that included Thornden Park, prompting student protests and national media attention. Police reports from the era were sometimes marked “NO PRESS,” a designation former detectives say resulted from university pressure on the department to suppress coverage of rape, robbery, and burglary near campus.

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In August 2025 the university and the police department agreed on the scope of the records request after Stengel asked for all calls and reports from 1982-1987 within the ZIP code covering the university and surrounding neighborhoods. The police department later estimated that complying with the subpoena would require 845 hours of staff time and cost $50,000. The appellate brief filed in late June contends that limiting disclosure to campus-only records is “hard to justify” because the university’s campus is interwoven with the city, and it challenges the court’s allowance for university personnel to act as “gatekeepers” of the evidence.

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• Syracuse Police Department – A spokesperson declined to comment, citing the city’s policy of non-comment.

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• University lawyers – John Powers emphasized the heavy Freedom-of-Information-Law workload and the impracticality of producing the requested records.

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• “It smacks of the 1980s when SU quashed media coverage of sexual assault. It’s that all over again,” — Andrew Stengel

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The appellate court will consider the university’s appeal, and the university must file a response by the September deadline. The outcome could determine whether broader police records become available to Jane Doe’s litigation and may influence how universities handle historic assault claims under the Adult Survivors Act.

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