Lawsuit claims Baylor football used gang rape as a 'bonding experience'
A new Title IX lawsuit claims the Baylor University football team used gang rapes as a "bonding experience" for players.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by an anonymous former Baylor volleyball player, accuses some four to eight Baylor football players of gang rape at a 2012 party. This allegation marks the seventh claim filed against Baylor regarding its football program -- an athletic team the suit says is marked by a "culture of sexual violence."
The lawsuit's account of this plantiff's alleged rape reads as follows:
"During the party, Plaintiff's friend saw one football player trying to pull Plaintiff into a bathroom several times. Plaintiff recalls that another Baylor football player kept grabbing at her throughout the night and she repeatedly told him 'no.' The day before, Plaintiff had repeatedly declined the football player's requests to 'hook up' with him."
"At some point after Plaintiff's friends left the party, Plaintiff remembers one football player picking her up, putting her in his vehicle and taking her somewhere. It was there that at least four Baylor football players brutally gang raped Plaintiff. Plaintiff remembers lying on her back, unable to move and staring at glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling as the football players took turns raping her. Following the gang rape, Plaintiff remembers hearing the players yell 'Grab her phone! Delete my numbers and texts!'"
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The suit also details that Baylor coaching staff played a part in facilitating an environment where these sexual acts could take place, claiming Assistant Coach Kendall Briles once appealed to a high school recruit saying, "Do you like white women? Because we have a lot of them at Baylor and they LOVE football players."
"These girls affected by this are seeking their day in court," said plantiff lawyer Muhammad Aziz to the Waco Tribune. "We thought about this a lot, and me and my client thought about it and discussed it. Eventually, we decided to proceed. Really, what we are seeking to enforce is just a safe education environment for the girls at the school."
Baylor said to the Tribune it had been trying to reach a resolution with the alleged victim for "many months."
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