New Baylor lawsuit alleges 52 rapes by football players in 4 years, ‘show ’em a good time’ culture | Baylor
Investigation by attorneys recognized not less than 52 “acts of rape,” together with 5 gang rapes, by 31 soccer gamers in a four-year interval. At least two of the gang rapes had been dedicated by 10 or extra gamers at one time, the go well with states.
This contrasts with figures Baylor officers have supplied primarily based on an investigation by Pennsylvania-based regulation agency Pepper Hamilton, which seemed into how Baylor dealt with sexual assault on campus. Regents informed The Wall Street Journal in October that they had been conscious of 17 women who reported sexual or domestic assaults involving 19 players, including four alleged gang rapes, since 2011.
Tonya Lewis, a Baylor spokeswoman, declined to reply particular questions on Baylor’s information of the prior alleged sexual assault by Chatman or the alleged non-disclosure settlement. She additionally declined to touch upon the scope of the Pepper Hamilton investigation or whether or not the college stands by the numbers it initially supplied.
Clune, who has represented 4 Baylor survivors, including two who received settlements with the university, defended the thoroughness of his investigation.
“We do not know how the regents got here up with their numbers, however they don’t symbolize the full variety of assaults,” he mentioned. “I am unsure that was Pepper’s task both.”
Art Briles’ response
Art Briles, the previous head soccer coach who was fired in May in response to the scandal, had no information of the 52 sexual assaults cited within the lawsuit, or of any payoff to a sufferer to maintain quiet, his lawyer Ernest Cannon mentioned.
“Lawyers can say no matter they need to in pleadings,” Cannon mentioned. “I have not seen any info.”
He added that the quote within the lawsuit attributed to his shopper’s son, Kendal Briles, didn’t “sound just like the Kendal that I do know.” Florida Atlantic University, which lately employed Kendal Briles to be its offensive coordinator, didn’t reply for a request for remark.
The allegations additionally had been met with push again by a former recruiting chair for the Baylor Bruins, a “hostess” group for potential athletes visiting campus. Katie Norman tweeted that nobody within the Baylor Bruins instructed girls to sleep with recruits, and that she was solely requested to hang around with them at video games.
