The Ithaca Common Council voted 9-1 on Wednesday to freeze all new event and noise permits for Cornell and affiliated student groups through at least Nov. 5. The temporary ban is designed to force Day Hall to revamp its handling of sexual misconduct cases, following widespread outrage over the university’s response to an alleged 2024 fraternity assault. City leaders are demanding that Cornell increase transparency and allow the Ithaca Police Department to lead campus sexual assault investigations rather than keeping them behind closed doors. While student activists urged local officials to hold the administration accountable for repeatedly failing to protect students, campus leaders also warned that the broad permit freeze unfairly penalizes student life and harmless campus programming for the administration’s missteps.