DALLAS _ A display of solidarity with Baylor University sexual assault survivors popped up on campus Monday, as students resumed classes for the first time since a new lawsuit alleged that the football program's sexual assault problem was far worse than previously reported.
Students taped 52 paper cutouts in the shape of people to the ground on Fountain Mall, near the student center, to represent the 52 acts of rape that Friday's lawsuit claims were committed by 31 football players between 2011 and 2014.
"How many more?" one cutout read.
The latest estimate _ based on investigations by lawyers _ far exceeds the figure school officials provided to The Wall Street Journal in October. After the law firm Pepper Hamilton investigated how the university responded to sexual assault, regents told the paper that 17 women had accused 19 football players of sexual or physical assault since 2011.
The lawsuit's accusations could not be independently verified, and Baylor declined to comment Friday on whether it stands by its original numbers. Colorado attorney John Clune, who filed the suit on behalf of a survivor who says she was raped by two football players in 2013, said the regents' estimate did not represent the total number of assaults.
The paper cutouts were spray-painted green and gold, Baylor's school colors. Hadassa Perez, a student at sister school University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, said the display was up from about 1 a.m. Monday but had disappeared by midmorning.
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