Eugene DanielsBaylor University is being sued for failing to respond adequately to a student's sexual assault at the hands of a football player. The school has faced criticism for its handling of sexual assault cases in the past.
According to the lawsuit, Jasmin Hernandez was raped by Tevin Elliott in 2012, and the school's administrators were "deliberately indifferent" to her complaints. She says Baylor violated Title IX by failing to comply with its protections against sexual harassment, which say schools should react promptly to sexual assault claims.
Hernandez also claims administrators were negligent because they failed to "monitor or supervise Elliott, despite their knowledge that he had sexually assaulted multiple female students prior to sexually assaulting [her]."
"If this is what it takes to make Baylor accountable, of course it's quite difficult but it's necessary, hopefully, so that in the future Baylor can change its policies and its ways of dealing with this sort of thing," Hernandez said in a press conference with her lawyer.
The head football coach and athletic director are also named in the suit, and with two former players including Elliott having been convicted and sentenced for sexual assault, the integrity of the program is already under scrutiny.
The university announced some changes to improve how it addresses issues like this in the future and hired a law firm to review its response to all assault claims.
This video includes images from Getty Images and clips from Baylor University.
