A former Baylor student says in a lawsuit that as many as eight players on the school's football team drugged and gang-raped her.
The woman, a volleyball player referred to as Jane Doe, says that she was attending a party in February 2012 at an apartment where several football players lived.
She said she became intoxicated and cannot recall portions of the night, but she remembers one football player picking her up and putting her in his vehicle. She was taken to another location where she says at least four football players raped her. Later, other people told her at least as many as eight football players were involved.
The victim remembered hearing someone yell "Grab her phone! Delete my numbers and texts" afterward, the lawsuit says.
When she woke up the next day, she had a number of missed calls and text messages from a friend who lived in the apartment complex where the party was held. The friend told her that he had seen football players carry a girl _ who he believed was her _ into an apartment.
The victim also noticed that phone numbers for two players had been removed from her phone, the lawsuit says.
Later, the woman said, members of the football team taunted her, with one of them telling her that she "wanted it" and that one of the men had taken pictures of her during the rape.
After the semester ended, the victim told her mother about the assault. Her mother then met with an assistant football coach at a Waco restaurant. She provided him with the names of several players involved in the rape and asked what the school could do about it.
She didn't hear from the coach again, the lawsuit says.
Court documents show that several Baylor regents acknowledged that the assistant coach spoke to two of the players about the incident, and they "admitted to 'fooling around,' calling it 'just a little bit of playtime.' " They said the coach determined that the accusation was in a "gray area."
The lawsuit alleges that football players then harassed the victim verbally on campus and with text messages that were also sent to her family.
In April 2013, the lawsuit says, football players broke into her apartment and stole money and jewelry. No charges were filed.
The victim withdrew from the school after the spring 2013 semester.
The lawsuit does not identify any of the football players.
In a statement to the Waco Tribune-Herald, the school said it has been in contact with the victim's lawyer, Muhammad Aziz, for months in an attempt to resolve the situation.
"As this case proceeds, Baylor maintains its ability to present facts _ as available to the University _ in response to the allegations contained in the legal filing," the university said in the statement. "The University's response in no way changes Baylor's position that any assault involving members of our campus community is reprehensible and inexcusable. Baylor remains committed to eliminating all forms of sexual and gender-based harassment and discrimination within our campus community."
The new lawsuit _ the seventh Title IX lawsuit filed against the Waco university _ is the latest in a series of allegations in the school's sexual-assault crisis.
An investigation by the law firm Pepper Hamilton found that 17 people had reported sexual or physical assault by 19 football players, including four gang rapes, since 2011. But another estimate in the lawsuit says that as many as 31 football players committed 52 acts of rape from 2011 to 2014.
"Under (former football coach Art) Briles, the culture of Baylor football and rape became synonymous," the lawsuit says.
The university ousted Briles, athletics director Ian McCaw and president Ken Starr last year, and it says it has put into place the majority of the 105 recommendations from Pepper Hamilton on how it should respond to sexual assaults.
