The Baylor football program keeps sinking to new lows, and the latest allegations take the school to what is hopefully its nadir.
Baylor University has been hit with a new federal lawsuit by a former volleyball player, known only as “Jane Doe,” that accuses football players of ritually recording gang rapes. The seventh Title IX lawsuit filed against the Baptist school, it implicates eight unnamed players of drugging the woman and taking turns raping her in 2012.
The suit alleges the football team had a hazing system for freshmen: They had to bring freshman girls to parties, with the intention of them being drugged and raped, “or in the words of the football players, ‘trains’ would be run on the girls.” The rapes were photographed and videotaped, and according to the plaintiff, there was at least one 21-second videotape of two students being gang raped by football players.
“These girls affected by this are seeking their day in court,” the plaintiff’s lawyer, Muhammad Aziz, told the Waco Tribune. “We thought about this a lot, and … eventually, we decided to proceed. Really, what we are seeking to enforce is just a safe education environment for the girls at the school.”
It is the latest fallout for the school that is still reeling from a widespread sexual assault scandal that cost President Ken Starr and head football coach Art Briles their jobs, and led to the resignation of athletic director Ian McCaw a year later. On Jan. 27, a lawsuit was filed accusing 31 players of committing 52 rapes, five of them gang rapes, over a four-year time frame. After the lawsuit, Baylor released text messages that implicated Briles in covering up the assaults.
The latest lawsuit says the plaintiff was harassed after her alleged sexual assault, abused verbally and publicly by the football players. She was told by one player she “wanted it,” the lawsuit alleges, and there were nude photos taken of her from the incident. She recalled the players shouting, “Grab her phone! Delete my numbers and texts!” before raping her.
The plaintiff told her mother of the incident, the suit says, in spring of 2012, and a meeting with an assistant football coach ensued. But the mother never heard from the assistant coach again, according to the suit.
The allegations don’t end there. The plaintiff also said players trashed and burglarized her apartment, stealing money and a necklace. She reported the crime to Waco police, but no charges were filed based on an understanding her belongings would be returned. In addition, the woman said she took a dog belonging to a Baylor player to the vet after the animal was injured in a dogfight organized by the team — the players later spread a rumor she had stolen the dog.
The plaintiff met with Briles, and told the football chaplain about the rape and robbery, but neither reported it to authorities. She withdrew from Baylor in May 2013 after another football player told her he had heard she was raped by eight of his teammates.