http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/...uses-baylor-bears-discrimination-intimidation
A second former Title IX officer at Baylor University has filed complaints with federal officials saying she faced discriminatory treatment and intimidation while she tried to investigate sexual assault cases -- especially those involving football players -- during her seven months at the university.
Gabrielle Lyons told Outside the Lines this week that she left Baylor in November 2015 after senior administrators ignored her and other investigators' complaints that they were short-staffed and needed mental health services to cope with the emotional stress of having to hear so many stories of abuse.
Last spring, Lyons reached out to a campus sexual assault advocacy group called End Rape on Campus to file a Title IX complaint against Baylor on her behalf to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. She worked with the group rather than file her own complaint because at the time, she feared retaliation and hoped to remain anonymous.
In October 2016, Baylor's Title IX coordinator, Patty Crawford, resigned after filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, claiming that Baylor was continuing to violate Title IX provisions despite a commitment to enact recommended changes after the Pepper Hamilton investigation. She stated that senior leaders, specifically senior vice president for operations and chief financial officer Reagan Ramsower, stood in her way of implementing Title IX and did not adequately fund her office.
Baylor officials have said that Crawford struggled to manage her office and, in a timeline posted on the school's website in November, noted that a Title IX investigator had resigned "after expressing frustration working for Baylor and Crawford in particular."
That investigator was Lyons, and she told Outside the Lines this week she "was hurt and in disbelief" when she read that statement because she said she left "because of Baylor's noncompliance. If anything, I always asked for more support for Patty and the Office."
Lyons said she was handed sexual assault cases to investigate her first day on the job, April 1, 2015. Although Lyons did not have prior Title IX experience, she had worked several years as an investigator for the federal government, including four years with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Chicago, investigating employment discrimination. She said nothing prepared her for what she experienced at Baylor.
"The violence is what took me back," she said. "My limited understanding was that it was a great Baptist institution. Me, being a Christian myself, I was just appalled at the level of violence taking place so rampantly at the institution."
Lyons said the final straw for her came after an Oct. 5, 2015, meeting with Ramsower, Crawford and another Title IX investigator, Ian McRary, who resigned in December. Lyons said she told Ramsower that "we are suffering," and the staff needed more support as "it's keeping me up at night. I felt that if I had the support, I could do it."
Lyons described Ramsower's response as "cold" and dismissive.
"At night, I was having nightmares about rape and then I was getting a little paranoid," Lyons said. "And then the police were saying, 'You're not safe to do your job. Look over your shoulder when you go to the parking lot.'"
A second former Title IX officer at Baylor University has filed complaints with federal officials saying she faced discriminatory treatment and intimidation while she tried to investigate sexual assault cases -- especially those involving football players -- during her seven months at the university.
Gabrielle Lyons told Outside the Lines this week that she left Baylor in November 2015 after senior administrators ignored her and other investigators' complaints that they were short-staffed and needed mental health services to cope with the emotional stress of having to hear so many stories of abuse.
Last spring, Lyons reached out to a campus sexual assault advocacy group called End Rape on Campus to file a Title IX complaint against Baylor on her behalf to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. She worked with the group rather than file her own complaint because at the time, she feared retaliation and hoped to remain anonymous.
In October 2016, Baylor's Title IX coordinator, Patty Crawford, resigned after filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, claiming that Baylor was continuing to violate Title IX provisions despite a commitment to enact recommended changes after the Pepper Hamilton investigation. She stated that senior leaders, specifically senior vice president for operations and chief financial officer Reagan Ramsower, stood in her way of implementing Title IX and did not adequately fund her office.
Baylor officials have said that Crawford struggled to manage her office and, in a timeline posted on the school's website in November, noted that a Title IX investigator had resigned "after expressing frustration working for Baylor and Crawford in particular."
That investigator was Lyons, and she told Outside the Lines this week she "was hurt and in disbelief" when she read that statement because she said she left "because of Baylor's noncompliance. If anything, I always asked for more support for Patty and the Office."
Lyons said she was handed sexual assault cases to investigate her first day on the job, April 1, 2015. Although Lyons did not have prior Title IX experience, she had worked several years as an investigator for the federal government, including four years with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Chicago, investigating employment discrimination. She said nothing prepared her for what she experienced at Baylor.
"The violence is what took me back," she said. "My limited understanding was that it was a great Baptist institution. Me, being a Christian myself, I was just appalled at the level of violence taking place so rampantly at the institution."
Lyons said the final straw for her came after an Oct. 5, 2015, meeting with Ramsower, Crawford and another Title IX investigator, Ian McRary, who resigned in December. Lyons said she told Ramsower that "we are suffering," and the staff needed more support as "it's keeping me up at night. I felt that if I had the support, I could do it."
Lyons described Ramsower's response as "cold" and dismissive.
"At night, I was having nightmares about rape and then I was getting a little paranoid," Lyons said. "And then the police were saying, 'You're not safe to do your job. Look over your shoulder when you go to the parking lot.'"
