Baylor Suspends Two Football Players After Sexual Assault Allegations
Baylor suspended two football players after they were accused of sexual assault.
Baylor head coach Matt Rhule told KCEN-TV the players were separated from the team after being accused of assault by female members of the school's equestrian team.
"I can't get into too many of the details on this specific incident," Rhule told KCEN-TV. "I really don't know too many of the details on this specific incident, but I do know things have been handled the right way."
ESPN obtained a police report from an incident in which two Baylor female students told authorities they were sexually assaulted at an apartment complex in Waco on Nov. 12.
The alleged incident occurred hours after Baylor lost to Texas Tech 38-24 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Baylor went on to finish Rhule's first season at the school with a record of 1–11.
In 2016, an internal investigation by Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton that concluded that there were “institutional failures at every level” at Baylor in addressing sexual violence on campus.
Head football coach Art Briles was fired, athletic director Ian McCaw was suspended and resigned, and other department employees were fired as a result of the Hamilton report.
The school had faced up to a half-dozen lawsuits from women who say the university did nothing for years, while sexual assault was rampant on campus. Baylor is also being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education for their response to sexual assaults.
According to the report, the alleged victims in this case reported the incident to Baylor equestrian coach Casie Maxwell, which made its way to the school's Title IX office and then to the chief of Baylor Police Department.
"I feel like the university put those processes in place, and it's our job to carry them out," Rhule said. "And, from what I've seen, the university has carried them out and everything has been done in a way that it should be done."
