It was late September when word began to spread across social media: One of the Cornell University students accused of gang rape had transferred to a school in South Florida.

It’s unclear exactly when or where the posts started, but they moved quickly across TikTok, Instagram and Fizz, an app for Gen Z college students. They claimed that the young man, reportedly expelled from Cornell, had enrolled at Nova Southeastern University, near Fort Lauderdale.

Students there were outraged. They complained to the university and emailed its president, urging him to remove the student from campus. Some flooded the school’s social media accounts with comments. Others threatened to protest.

In a statement shared with students on Oct. 4, NSU President Harry Moon acknowledged the Cornell sexual assault allegations that date to October 2024 “may involve a student who later transferred to NSU.” The statement did not identify him or clarify whether he remained enrolled at the 20,000-student private university.

“At the time of admission, the university was not aware of allegations subsequently reported in media,” the statement read. “Once we learned of the reported incident, we acted immediately on behalf of the safety and well-being of our students and the NSU community.”

While NSU has declined to discuss the person’s admission or disciplinary history, citing federal privacy laws, his transfer has raised questions about the extent to which disciplinary records follow students between colleges — and whether the timing of an application can leave a receiving school unaware of serious misconduct allegations.

“The system is supposed to work in a certain way,” said S. Daniel Carter, a longtime campus safety consultant, “and it’s entirely possible the system did not work in this case because of the duration of the [Cornell] proceedings.”