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A former Baylor volleyball player filed a Title IX lawsuit against the school late Tuesday alleging she was gang raped by as many as eight football players, according to a filing obtained by the Waco Tribune.
It is the seventh Title IX lawsuit against the school that alleges as many as eight football players drugged and raped her in 2012.
What Happened?
In March, Baylor moved to dismiss a Title IX lawsuit that claimed 52 rapes were committed by 31 football players from 2011 to 2014.
“Baylor does not agree with or concede the accuracy of plaintiff’s 146-paragraph complaint and its immaterial and inflammatory assertions,” that motion said.
The university said they are trying to reach “an amicable resolution” in talks with the victims lawyers.
“Baylor has since initiated and structurally completed 105 wide-ranging recommendations in response to issues of sexual violence within our campus community, in addition to making changes within the university and athletics leadership and investing significantly in student support systems,” a statement from the university said.
According to the lawsuit, the football team saw widespread hazing of freshman recruits that included making them bring freshman females to parties to be drugged and gang raped. The lawsuit also claims that the rapes were videotaped and photographed and that there is a 21-second clip of the assault that the players shared amongst themselves.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Education is investigating the school for its response to sexual assaults.
Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton conducted an outside investigation which concluded that there were “institutional failures at every level” at Baylor in relation to responding to sexual violence on campus. Pepper Hamilton is also being sued for negligence and defamation by a former athletics staffer following his firing after the report came out.
Former head coach Art Briles was fired, athletic director Ian McCaw was suspended and resigned, and other department employees were dismissed following the Hamilton report.
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private Baptist university located in Waco, Texas. It was established in 1845 and is the oldest continuously-operating university in Texas. It is also the largest Baptist university in the world with a total enrollment of 16,787 students.
Baylor University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools but is currently on “warning” due to suspected non-compliance with SACS requirements, it is the least severe non-compliant status a university can be placed on.
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