More Allegations against Baylor Involving Former Players Tre'Von Armstead and Shamycheal Chatman

If you were hoping that the situation surrounding Baylor's football program was going to suddenly get better, I have bad news:

OTL: Baylor didn't examine sex assault claim for 2 years. New allegation against two former players. https://t.co/gxSNzM1Dz5

— Paula Lavigne (@pinepaula) April 13, 2016

This time, the allegations concern an incident involving former players Tre'Von Armstead and Shamycheal Chatman, both of whom have left the program in recent years. Armstead's dismissal was particularly noteworthy due mostly to the lack of information about it at the time. The article notes that charges were never filed against either player; however, that is apparently because the girl involved was too drunk to remember what happened.

Aside from the allegations against the two players (which I'm not trying to downplay in the slightest), the real "story" here involving Baylor is that the University allegedly took two years to investigate those allegations.  From the story:

In 2013, the Waco Police Department wrote in a police report that it had informed Baylor officials about an off-campus incident involving former All-Big 12 tight end Tre'Von Armstead and former practice squad player Myke Chatman. Waco police also told the alleged victim they had contacted Baylor, but according to documents and interviews conducted by Outside the Lines, Baylor didn't begin looking into the allegations until Sept. 11, 2015.

...

Baylor's investigation of the allegations against Armstead and Chatman didn't begin until the alleged victim, encouraged by a friend who had attended a recent sexual assault prevention training program at the school, asked Baylor officials about her case this past September. The school's Title IX report, issued in February and obtained by Outside the Lines, states that the university had been unaware of the allegations until the woman came forward. But Waco police had written in a police report that on April 18, 2013, "Baylor University was contacted." And the woman, who spoke to Outside the Lines on the condition of anonymity, said that police had told her then that they had contacted Baylor and that someone from the university would follow up.

If true, the bolded part above is further evidence of a serious problem in how the University handled sexual assault cases in recent years.  The idea that Baylor would know about these kinds of allegations and not follow up for nearly two years... is just abhorrent.  It's not as important to me that Baylor eventually did what it needed to do in looking at the allegations fairly as it is that it took so long.  There's just no reason for that.

That these cases have repeatedly involved athletes, specifically football players, is also extremely serious, and something that will have to be addressed independently and decisively.

Like I did with the Oakman allegations last week, I'd ask that people think carefully before commenting on this post.  I have a hard time putting into words the disappointment I'm feeling in the University I love, so I'm not really going to try.  I'd also ask that you read the OTL article above in its entirety, since it has a lot of information there that people should know before drawing firm conclusions on either of the two former players.