A new lawsuit against Baylor over Title IX violations and negligence was filed by a former student Friday. The lawsuit, as first reported by theDallas Morning News but since obtained by CBS Sports, makes some serious claims against the school, allegations that make the culture at Baylor look even worse than it did before, hard as that might be to believe.
The lawsuit alleges that there were 52 "acts of rape" committed by 31 different Baylor football players from 2011-14. The woman who filed the lawsuit, identified as Elizabeth Doe, says she was raped by two Baylor football players in 2013, who were both named suspects in the incident but never charged by police.
Doe accuses former Baylor players Tre'Von Armstead and Shamycheal Chatman of gang-raping her following a party on April 18, 2013. Doe also claims that Chatman had been accused of rape before by a student-athletic trainer at the school. In the lawsuit, Doe says the school did not intervene following the rape, instead moving the trainer to one of the school's women's teams and offering to "pay for her education in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement."
The lawsuit also includes details about the win-first culture within the program as Doe claims that the school had a policy she describes as "show 'em a good time" that used sex to sell the Bears football program to recruits.
According to the lawsuit, Baylor coaches "arranged for women to have sex with recruits on their official campus visits," with one player acknowledging that coaches once "sent two women from the Baylor Bruins program to his hotel room and the room of another recruit to engage in sex with the two men." The Baylor Bruins are a hostess program in which attractive female students escort recruits and their families during their visits to campus. The lawsuit says these women were "at times used to engage in sexual acts with the recruits to help secure the recruits' commitment to Baylor."
The lawsuit also alleges that players arranged for "women, alcohol and illegal drugs" to be present at off-campus parties while entertaining recruits, noting that such parties "repeatedly resulted in gang rape of women by the athletes." Players allegedly paid for and escorted "underage recruits to bars and strip clubs" as well.
Furthermore, former assistant coach Kendall Briles is alleged to have said the following to a prospect from Dallas: "Do you like white women? Because we have a lot of them at Baylor and they love football players." Briles has since left to become the offensive coordinator at Florida Atlantic.
Among the 52 acts of rape alleged in the lawsuit were five gang rapes with two of those five consisting of 10 or more Baylor football players at one time. Some of those incidents were recorded with video shared with teammates.
"We have been working with Baylor on these football cases since the start of this and though we have appreciated their efforts to fix the problems, this is one that needed to be filed," John Clune, the plaintiffs' lawyer, told CBS Sports. "As hard as the events at Baylor have been for people to hear, what went on there was much worse than has been reported. We do still appreciate the progress that Baylor has made and know that the school will be a better place when this case is over."
Baylor released a statement late Friday from president David E. Garland.
"Our hearts go out to any victims of sexual assault. Any assault involving members of our campus community is reprehensible and inexcusable. Baylor University has taken unprecedented actions that have been well-documented in response to the issue of past and alleged sexual assaults involving our campus community," said Garland. "We have made great progress in implementing 105 recommendations to strengthen the safety and security of all students and restore faith in the University, in addition to searching for a new president and the hiring of athletic director Mack Rhoades and head football coach Matt Rhule who reflect the highest levels of character and integrity. Baylor has made a strong commitment to a values-driven culture in accordance with our Christian mission."