A new Title IX lawsuit filed against Baylor for its handling of three alleged sexual assaults includes one unnamed football player and many unsettling details.
Per ESPN.com, the three unnamed women who are part of the suit say school representatives failed to provide them with adequate support following alleged attacks and thereby created a hostile environment for them. They also say they were deterred from reporting the incidents.
One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit reports being misinformed by Baylor police about how consequences of filing a report while another says she was misinformed about her options by a university physician.The lawsuit stated that [Jane Doe 1] also reported the alleged assault [by a football player] to the Baylor campus advocacy center during final exams, but the university did not provide her any assistance, and she was “left to cope with the situation alone and in fear.”
It states that she would see her alleged assailant at football games, would become upset and would be forced to leave. Stress caused her to perform poorly in her classes. She lost her academic scholarship and dropped out after fall 2015.
A third plaintiff was a university dorm staff member who reported being sexually harassed and assaulted” by a fellow staff member then receiving a finite number of counseling sessions before being told to find treatment elsewhere.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a major shakeup at the Texas private university that included the suspension “with intent to fire” of football coach Art Briles and the departure of university president and chancellor Kenneth Starr and director of athletics Ian McCaw, among others, after a damning report accused them of being part of a flawed system of handling sexual assault accusations.
ESPN.com also notes the school has already settled with a former Baylor athlete who was sexually assaulted by a football player and is in the process of negotiating a settlement with another student who was raped by another player.
