Lawsuit Claims Tennessee Football Players Jumped Teammate for Helping Rape Victim

Six women filed a lawsuit against the University of Tennessee in a federal court.

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Yesterday, a group of six unnamed women filed a lawsuit against the University of Tennessee in a federal court in Nashville, Tenn. The women are accusing the school of committing a handful of Title IX violations and claim that the school has shown an “indifference” when it comes to sexual assaults involving student-athletes. Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that former football players A.J. Johnson, Riyadh Jones, and Michael Williams, former basketball player Yemi Makanjuola, and two unnamed student-athletes who currently attend the school have committed sexual assaults during their time at Tennessee. The details of the lawsuit indicate that Tennessee has created a culture that enables student-athletes—and specifically, male student-athletes—to commit sexual assaults without punishment.

In addition to all of that, the women also claim that former Tennessee football player Drae Bowles was actually jumped by several of his teammates after he helped a woman who accused Johnson and Williams of rape. They say that Bowles was threatened and beat up for driving the woman to the hospital after the alleged rape and encouraging her to file charges against the players involved (Johnson and Williams are scheduled to go to trial on rape charges this summer). Bowles eventually transferred from the school.

You can check out all of the details of the lawsuit in a full report from The Tennessean here. Tennessee has denied the accusations made in the lawsuit.

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[via SB Nation]

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