Lawsuit: Baylor football players committed 52 rapes in 4 years

A new lawsuit alleges the sexual abuse at Baylor University in Waco, Texas was more widespread than previously thought. The allegations claim 31 football players at Baylor University committed 52 acts of rape over the course of four years. According to the lawsuit, the included five gang rapes and two involved 10 or more players. Previously, an independent investigation commissioned by the University found accusations against 19 players of sexual and domestic abuse. Some of the findings were made public in May.

The University’s president, athletic director, and head football coach lost their jobs following that investigation, which found leadership within athletic department was putting women at risk by keeping sexual abuse allegations against players quiet and discouraging victims from coming forward.

The new lawsuit describes a culture of enticing recruits to come to the University through sex, as described by The Dallas Morning News.

The lawsuit describes a culture of sexual violence under former Baylor football coach Art Briles in which the school implemented a “show ’em a good time” policy that “used sex to sell” the football program to recruits. That included escorting underage recruits to strip clubs and arranging women to have sex with prospective players, the suit alleges.

Former assistant coach Kendal Briles — the son of the head coach — once told a Dallas-area student athlete, “Do you like white women? Because we have a lot of them at Baylor and they love football players,” according to the suit.

So we’re talking about allegations of widespread rape, literally using women as sex objects, and racism too. Here’s how the University is responding to that according to The Washington Post.

Late Friday night, the school responded with a statement calling the assaults “reprehensible and inexcusable” and noting that school has made “great progress in implementing 105 recommendations to strengthen the safety and security of all students and restore faith in the University.”

John Clune, a Colorado attorney representing Doe, released a statement via email.

“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,” Clune wrote. “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.”