Accusations, assault and prison time
In 2016, the University of Baylor football team came under fire when it was revealed that university officials had failed to take action regarding alleged rapes and sexual assaults. The scandal led to the firing of head coach Art Briles, the demotion and eventual resignation of Baylor President Ken Starr, the resignation of athletic director Ian McCaw and the firing of two others connected with the football program.
The Baylor football program’s sexual assault scandal spans six years with numerous allegations against multiple players on the team.
In April 2012, Baylor student Jasmin Hernandez said that she was raped twice at a party by football player Tevin Elliot.
A year and a half later, in October 2013, a women’s soccer player at Baylor reported that she was sexually assaulted by football player Sam Ukwuachu.
In January 2014, Elliot is convicted of two counts of sexual assault and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Ukwuachu was convicted a year and a half later, as in August 2015, he was sentenced to a six-month sentence with 10 years of probation.
Following Ukwuachu’s sentencing, Baylor commissioned a law firm to do an independent investigation into the school’s “institutional response to Title IX and related compliance issues.”
Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs. The law also covers sexual harassment and sexual violence. If schools learn of harassment that creates a hostile environment, they are required to take actions to eliminate it, prevent it from happening again and address its effects.
The Pepper Hamilton law firm began the review of Baylor’s Title IX processes, including sexual assault or dating violence reports during 2011-2015.
In February 2016, a Baylor student Jasmin Hernandez alleges Jacob Anderson, president of Baylor’s Phi Delta Theta fraternity house, “repeatedly raped” her at a fraternity party.
A month later, in March 2016, Hernandez filed a federal lawsuit against Baylor, alleging that officials failed to investigate her assault.
In May 2016, Ken Starr was fired as school president (and resigned from chancellor a week later). Meanwhile, head coach Art Briles was also fired from his position.
An investigation by the Pepper Hamilton law firm said the school’s response to sexual violence was inadequate and the school “failed to take action to identify and eliminate a potentially hostile environment.”
The firm also found problems within the athletic department, “including a failure to identify and respond to a pattern of sexual violence by a football player and to a report of dating violence.”
Another football player was indicted in July 2016. Former player Shawn Oakman was indicted on one count of sexual assault of a Baylor student in April 2016.
In October 2016, Baylor Title IX administrator Patty Crawford resigned from her position. This led to more students suing Baylor. By this point, 10 students had alleged that they were assaulted between 2004-2016. The students accused school employees, including the university’s doctors, police and counseling center, of failing to help them.
In March 2017, the Texas Rangers, the state’s top police agency, opens an investigation about Baylor’s handling of sexual assault cases.
Two months later, in May 2017, a former student volleyball player files suit, alleging that she was gang-raped in 2012 by Baylor football players. The student told a counselor at the school, but the counselor did not mention Title IX nor the student’s rights and options to report the incident.
In August 2017, Hernandez reached a settlement with the school. Meanwhile, a former Title IX employee, Gabrielle Lyons, sues Baylor, alleging the school retaliated against her while she investigated reports of sexual violence.
In February 2018, a woman filed a lawsuit against Anderson, the ex-fraternity president, and the fraternity, Phi Delta Theta.
Baylor was able to reach a settlement agreement with the former volleyball player who was allegedly gang-raped in July 2018.
In December 2018, a judge accepts a plea deal between Anderson and prosecutors. Anderson, who was indicted on four counts of sexual assault, pleaded no contest to unlawful restraint as part of the agreement. He would not serve any jail time and must complete three years of deferred probation and pay a $400 fine.
This scandal is one of the biggest black eyes on a college football program in recent history. It spanned three football players and one fraternity president. It also cost the school president and head football coach their jobs along with many others.
Baylor is still trying to rebuild its reputation and trust years after this scandal has happened. This is no doubt, one of the more gruesome scandals in college football history.