The allegations of sexual assault on the campus of Baylor University does not appear to be going away with a recent development on Thursday morning. According to ESPN.com, A former BU student — Jasmin Hernandez — who told campus officials that she had been raped by former Baylor football player Tevin Elliot in 2012, has filed a Title IX lawsuit against the school. Per ESPN's reporting, the woman is claiming that the school knew of Elliot's history with assaults, failed to protect her and other women, and ignored her when she sought help after her assault.
Back in January, ESPN's Outside the Lines criticized the school's handling of past alleged sexual assaults. Baylor's Title IX coordinator told OTL the school has hired an independent consultant to examine how it dealt with past sexual assault investigations.
OTL's Paula Lavigne, who is also reporting the news of the Title IX suit, told the story of Hernandez, who was given the pseudonym Tanya for the OTL piece, who was sexually assaulted by Elliot. He was eventually sentenced to 20 years in prison for attacking the student, and was sentenced for two counts of sexual assault in 2012. Baylor's campus police declined to help Tanya since the assault happened off school grounds, while the university's health center suggested she seek counseling from an off-campus facility because the center was so busy.
Per ESPN and Lavinge, the company typically does not name victims of sexual assaults, but Hernandez planned to file the lawsuit using her name and is no longer requesting anonymity about her case, per her attorneys.
In February, Baylor football head coach Art Briles told Fox Sports that his reaction to the OTL piece, although he didn't watch it, his reaction was one of "sadness and sorrow" because "it's something you never want to be associated with," Briles said. "You'd like to think you're immune to it, but I'm not sure anybody is.
Briles added that as a coach you then try to "educate and make awareness to it and hopefully, it never happens again."
We will continue to update this story as it develops.
