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WACO, Texas (AP) — The 20-year-old president of a Baylor University fraternity has been charged with sexual assault after a woman accused him of forcing himself on her outside a fraternity party.
Phi Delta Theta president Jacob Walter Anderson of Garland, Texas, a Dallas suburb, is free on $50,000 bond after his arrest Thursday.
A woman reported that she had been at a party at a fraternity house on Feb. 21 when "she was handed a drink of some kind of punch and was told, 'Here you go. Drink this,'" said Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, a Waco police spokesman.
"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," Swanton said.
The woman said she lost consciousness but awoke shortly thereafter face down on the ground, according to the arrest affidavit. Returning to the house, she found a friend to take her to a hospital, where staff examined her and notified police.
Baylor University officials suspended the chapter Friday afternoon "until a thorough investigation into the recent charges against the fraternity for underage drinking and sexual assault is completed," according to a Baylor statement.
Clyde Chandler, Anderson's defense attorney, said he was still examining the evidence in the case. "People need to quit jumping to conclusions," he said.
Baylor University has faced mounting criticism over its response to sex assaults on campus, and some critics contend administrators have failed to fully investigate complaints, including two involving football players who were later convicted.
The Southern Baptist school of 16,000 students in Waco did not report a single instance of sexual assault in a four-year span, according to federal statistics, a finding that stands in sharp contrast to the many other private and public schools that made multiple reports over the same period.
Two Baylor football players who were convicted of sexual assault: Tevin Elliott for a 2012 offense and Sam Ukwuachu for a 2013 assault.
ESPN's "Outside The Lines" profiled three unnamed students earlier this month who said the school failed to act after they reported being sexually assaulted by Elliott. One of the victims said an administrator told her there were six complaints against Elliott, and Baylor could not act because "it turns into a he said-she said," according to the report.
It's not clear when each of the assaults is alleged to have happened.
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