Women who reported gang rape by Baylor football players reach settlement with school

Two women who reported being gang raped by multiple football players in 2012 reached a financial settlement on Tuesday with Baylor University, and details of the alleged sexual assaults hadn't previously been reported in the media.

Baylor officials have said previously that 17 women had reported 19 sexual or physical assaults involving football players since 2011, including four gang rapes. According to university officials, the alleged incidents that led to Tuesday's settlement were included in the four gang rapes.

The terms of the settlement with the university were undisclosed and the women never filed a lawsuit. No details about the nature of the assaults, the players involved or the women who reported the rapes were released.

One of the two women also reported being physically assaulted by a football player in 2013.

In a joint statement issued by the women's attorneys and the university, Baylor interim president David E. Garland confirmed that the football players implicated in these reported sexual assaults and the athletic department personnel identified as having received the report of physical assault in 2013 are no longer a part of the university.

"It breaks my heart that even one student would be sexually assaulted while a part of this university. I offer my sincere apologies, both personally and on behalf of the university, that we did not do more to prevent, respond to or support the care of these young women," Garland said.

"Since the time of the reported assaults, Baylor has established a full-time Title IX office, created a specific Title IX policy and instituted a prevention and education program for all students, faculty and staff," the statement read.

In the statement, the women's attorneys, John Clune and Chris Ford of Boulder, Colorado, commended Baylor for its recent work in improving its handling of sexual assaults and following up on the findings of law firm Pepper Hamilton, which Baylor hired last year to review the university's response to sexual assault cases involving students.

"We're very glad to get these cases resolved," Clune told Outside the Lines. "They were two of the most horrific and heartbreaking stories that we've ever heard. Hopefully, the settlement will help them both in their recovery and, more important, to be able to finish their education."

Clune also represented the former soccer player who accused former Baylor football player Sam Ukwuachu of rape. Ukwuachu was criminally convicted of sexual assault in August 2015, and his case is currently being appealed. The woman reached an undisclosed financial settlement with Baylor last December.

Earlier this month, the school issued a statement describing a gang rape involving a different female student athlete -- identified by sources as a volleyball player -- about which several athletic department officials and coaches had been told but did not report to judicial affairs or anyone outside of athletics. Baylor assistant coaches disputed the school's assertion and sources told "Outside the Lines" that the incident was reported to judicial affairs.

Four federal Title IX gender-equity lawsuits are pending against Baylor, three of which involve women who said they were assaulted by a football player.