Baylor Fraternity President Is Charged With Sexual Assault

The president of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Baylor University, Jacob W. Anderson, has been arrested on charges of sexual assault, reports the Waco Tribune-Herald.

“The female said that she had been at a party at a fraternity in South Waco. She said she was handed a drink of some kind of punch and was told, ‘Here you go. Drink this,’” Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, a police officer in Waco, Tex., told the newspaper. “She said shortly after that she became very disoriented, was taken outside by our suspect, who is Jacob Walter Anderson, and she said when they got outside, Anderson forcibly sexually assaulted her.”

News of the alleged sexual assault comes as Baylor is reeling from an ESPN investigation that found that the university had failed to offer proper support to women who were sexually assaulted from 2009 to 2012. The university was under an unwelcome spotlight before that, when a report by Texas Monthly alleged that Baylor had bungled the investigation of a sexual-assault case involving a football player.

“This is a heck of a time to be accused of sexual assault, especially at Baylor University, with Baylor’s history with not being truthful with what’s going on,” Clyde Chandler, Mr. Anderson’s lawyer, told the Tribune-Herald. He added that the case was in its preliminary stages and acknowledged that the allegations were serious.

Baylor’s president, Kenneth W. Starr, recently sent a message to the campus pledging “a safe and supportive environment for our wonderful students” and affirming the Baptist institution’s commitment to abide by the gender-equity law known as Title IX. Baylor is not among the more than 150 campuses under federal Title IX investigation.