Report States 19 Baylor Football Players Have Been Accused of Sexual Assault Since 2011

A troubling report from the Wall Street Journal details the sexual assault culture at Baylor.

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Complex Original

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Weā€™ve known for some time now that things were really messed up at Baylor under former head football coach Art Briles. On Friday, following a report from the Wall Street Journal, we learned more details about just how messed up things were.

Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton LLP conducted an outside investigation of the situation. The firm presented its findings to the schoolā€™s Board of Regents, which oversees the university. As a result, Briles was dismissed from the program, and Baylor Chancellor Kenneth Starr resigned, in May.

Some members of the Board of Regents spoke to the Journal, which stated that 17 women reported experiencing sexual or domestic assault involving 19 football players since 2011. That number included four alleged gang rapes.

Board members told the Journal that at least one time, Briles ā€œknew about an alleged incident and didnā€™t alert police, the schoolā€™s judicial-affairs staff or the Title IX office in charge of coordinating the schoolā€™s response to sexual violence.ā€

ā€œThere was a cultural issue there that was putting winning football games above everything else, including our values... We did not have a caring community when it came to these women who reported that they were assaulted,ā€ board member and Dallas lawyer J. Cary Gray told the Journal. ā€œAnd that is not OK.ā€

Gray told the paper that two days before Briles was dismissed, the coach met with the board and teared up when he was asked what he would have done differently.

ā€œHe couldnā€™t speak he was so upset, and all of us were,ā€ Gray said. ā€œArt said, ā€˜I delegated down, and I know I shouldnā€™t have. And I had a system where I was the last to know, and I should have been the first to know.ā€™ā€

Ernest Cannon, Brilesā€™ attorney, responded to Grayā€™s claim regarding the meeting. Cannon said Briles quoted scripture and expressed regret, but never admitted to any wrongdoing.

Three Baylor football players, including former standout defensive end Shawn Oakman (accused of second-degree sexual assault), have been indicted for sexual assault and crimes against women in the past four years, according to WacoTrib.com.

Some Baylor donors and alumni have wondered whether Briles was a scapegoat for a larger rape culture problem at the university. Patty Crawford, the schoolā€™s former Title IX coordinator, resigned earlier this month. Crawford has been critical of university officials, who she says attempted to prevent her from addressing a university-wide sexual assault problem.

ESPN has reported Baylor allowed at least one player (former defensive end Tevin Elliott) to continue playing after he was accused of sexual assault. He was later accused, in two separate incidents, of another sexual assault and rape. In Jan. 2014, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

ā€œThere were some bad things that happened under my watch,ā€ Briles told ESPN in September. ā€œAnd for that, Iā€™m sorryā€¦I was wrong. Iā€™m sorry. Iā€™m going to learn. Iā€™m going to get better.ā€

Briles was also asked what he would say to the victims.

"I'd tell them I'm extremely sorry,ā€ he told ESPN. ā€œIt just appalls me that somebody could victimize another human being. And there's no place in society for it. And I've never condoned it and never will and never put up with it. These players are part of our program and representatives of our program. And when they do wrong, then it reflects on me and the university. So I do feel responsibility."

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