Third suit alleges Baylor fostered 'hunting ground' for sexual assault

— -- A federal lawsuit filed Monday against Baylor University accuses the nation's largest Baptist school of creating a "hunting ground for sexual predators."

The lawsuit, brought by a former Baylor student, is the third in recent months to claim the school was indifferent to or ignored claims of sexual assault and didn't enforce federal general discrimination protections. It is not clear yet if this lawsuit involves a Baylor student-athlete.

Baylor demoted former president and chancellor Ken Starr after an outside law firm found the school had mishandled assault allegations for years.

The latest case, brought by a woman identified only as Jane Doe, says she was drugged and abducted from an off-campus residence known as "The Rugby House'' in February 2015. The lawsuit does not name her assailant but said he is not a member of Baylor's rugby club team.

The woman did not file a police report because she was too embarrassed, and it was her mother who called Baylor officials, according to the alleged victim's attorney, Paula Elliott.

The lawsuit said Baylor officials indicated there were reports of as many as five previously reported assaults at the same residence. According to the lawsuit, Baylor officials initially attempted to help identify the attacker, and told her there were two more reported victims with similar experiences at the house. But school investigators stopped all correspondence with the woman after five weeks and did not schedule an administrative hearing in her case. The woman dropped out of Baylor in summer 2015 and moved home out of state, Elliott said.

The school's own investigation, parts of which were released last month, demonstrated that Baylor ignored rape claims at the cost of safety to its students for years, the lawsuit said, adding that, "Baylor and the Baylor regents had created a hunting ground for sexual predators to freely prey upon innocent, unsuspecting female students, with no concern of reprisal or consequences."

Much of Baylor's investigation focused on allegations surrounding the football team. Head coach Art Briles was fired May 26 after the investigation found football coaches and staff had improper contact with complainants, and interfered or impeded school and potentially criminal investigations.

Attorneys for the woman who filed Monday's lawsuit say her case demonstrates the problem went far beyond athletics, and that no one had been warned about previous reports at the house where she was attacked.

"(S)exual assault issues at Baylor were not an 'athletic department issue,' but were an institution-wide problem that Baylor and Baylor regents failed to properly address,'' the lawsuit said.

Baylor is already attempting to settle a lawsuit filed in March by former student Jasmin Hernandez, who was raped by former football player Tevin Elliott, who was later sentenced to 20 years in prison. Hernandez' lawsuit claims Baylor knew Tevin Elliott had a history of assaults, failed to protect her and others who were attacked, and ignored her pleas when she sought help.

The Associated Press and ESPN generally don't identify sexual assault victims, but Hernandez has spoken publicly to draw attention to the case. Another lawsuit was filed last week by three women who were all identified only as Jane Doe. Hernandez's story, and those of two other women, was featured in January's Outside the Lines investigation into how Baylor failed to follow federal rules in responding to allegations of sexual assaults against student athletes, including Elliott and former defensive end Sam Ukwuachu. Ukwuachu was convicted of sexual assault in August after a Baylor soccer player reported to Waco police that he'd assaulted her in October 2013. That woman reached a settlement with the school in December, the terms of which were not disclosed; no lawsuit was ever filed.

The Outside the Lines story prompted other sexual assault victims to come forward, in online postings and during a vigil outside the home of Baylor President Ken Starr, about their experiences with Baylor officials, who have since vowed to improve their adjudication of reports and treatment of alleged victims. The university hired a Philadelphia law firm to review how it has responded to sexual assaults. It's unclear when that report will be finished and if it will be made public.

In recent weeks, Baylor has dealt with the fallout from that negative attention: the demotion and then the resignation of Starr; the pending firing of football coach Art Briles; the suspension and then the resignation of athletic director Ian McCaw; and the firings of multiple athletic department employees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.