Women allege Baylor ignored sexual assault allegations

Graham Watson

During the past four years, two Baylor football players, Tevin Elliott and Sam Ukwuachu, have been accused of sexual assault while members of the Bears.

Both players were convicted of their crimes. Elliott is currently serving a 20-year sentence while Ukwauchu is serving 10 years felony probation.

ESPN’s Outside the Lines, spoke to three women who said Elliott sexually assaulted them and that the school did nothing to help them as victims. Elliott was accused of either rape or assault five times from October 2009 to April 2012.

During the interview, which aired Sunday morning, the women’s faces were blurred and their real names were not used.

One of the women, identified as “Tanya,” said Elliott assaulted her in 2012. She reported the assault to the police, but said the school refused to help because the assault happened at an off-campus location. She also said she was accused of trying to tarnish the school’s football program and she ultimately lost her academic scholarship.

An investigation by Outside the Lines found several examples in Tanya’s case, and others at Baylor, in which school officials either failed to investigate, or adequately investigate, allegations of sexual violence. In many cases, officials did not provide support to those who reported assaults. Moreover, it took Baylor more than three years to comply with a federal directive: In April 2011, the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to all colleges and universities outlining their responsibilities under Title IX, including the need for each school to have a Title IX coordinator. Baylor didn’t hire a full-time coordinator until fall 2014.

Another victim, who was identified as “Kim,” said she told Bethany McCraw, associate dean for student conduct, Elliott assaulted her.

"(McCraw) said, "You're the sixth girl to come in and tell me this," Kim said.

Kim’s mother asked if the football program knew about the six allegations and McCraw said coach Art Briles did know.

She said, ‘Yes, they know about it, but it turns into a he said-she said, so there’s got to be, actually a court decision in order to act on it in any sort of way.’”

McGraw, who never appeared on camera, said she believed Kim’s story was inaccurate, but did not provide further comment.

According to Outside The Lines, federal law requires a university investigation of allegations of sexual assault, but there was no evidence Baylor ever opened one.

In a prison interview, Elliott maintained his innocent and said that as a football player, "We are guilty until proven innocent."

Elliott, a defensive end, spent three years at Baylor and started 11 of 25 games in two years. He was convicted of assault in 2012.

Ukwuachu, a defensive end transfer from Boise State, never played a down for Baylor. He sat out in 2013 because of NCAA transfer rules and did not play in 2014 due to a “violation of team rules.”

He was convicted of a 2013 assault on a female Baylor athlete in 2014. Neither Ukwuachu nor his victim appeared in the Outside The Lines report.

In 2014, Baylor hired Patty Crawford as its new Title IX coordinator and she stressed in an interview "to look at our past processes because we do want to be our best and we're always want to be an improvement from yesterday."

None of Baylor’s coaches, including Briles, or any of the school’s administrators were made available for the Outside The Lines interview.

For more Baylor news, visit SicEmSports.com.

- - - - - - -

Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!

And don’t forget to keep up with all of Graham’s thoughts, witty comments and college football discussions on Facebook