Small towns are notorious for their lack of secrets and including everyone's noses in each other's business.

Well, most small towns.

And while Waco, Texas might hold a population of over 100,000 people, it still keeps its "small-town" feel that it was founded upon. Its secrets- now known by the majority of American sports fans- were once kept silent by those who they affected most.

Secrets don't make friends, and neither do those who protect villains from the law.

While Baylor University, like any other university, has had its past share of scandals, the most current issue at hand takes the entire cake.

In 2012, former Baylor football player Tevin Elliott was sentenced to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for sexually assaulting a female student- the first of several incidents that the university would face.

In 2013, two more football players were accused of sexual assault but only one was expelled from school and removed from the team.

During the fall of the same year, a transfer athlete- who was kicked out of Boise State for violation of team policy- sexually assaulted a soccer player.

In 2015, a tennis player was accused of sexual assault off campus. The fall saw two women come forward with assault accusations against another football player.

Further investigation saw these acts spread further across campus, not only in the athletic department.

Eventually, the President, Athletic Director and head football coach "stepped down" in light of the closeted cases, after the women assaulted brought the cases forward and told testimony after testimony of how the Baylor administration attempted to hush them and keep them away from the media.

Now, if you're new to this, Baylor was founded in 1841 essentially as a Baptist university. Currently, only a slight amount of funding comes from any Baptist association, but the school is still considered a private Baptist college, which explains why it might seem like Baylor is sitting under a microscope, but also why the whole situation should be a bigger issue (don't burn me at the stake just yet) than it already is.

Society already sees Christians as hypocritical, self-righteous people, and this gives no assistance to the connotation. Sure, students at Baylor aren't all Christian or Baptist, but if the university still holds itself as such, why hasn't it done its job in protecting these women and preventing future assaults?

The victims were swept under the rug in an attempt to keep their athletics program successful. Baylor football attended their first ever major BCS bowl game in 2013- likely in the middle of when all the assaults took place.

If this is where we stand as a society, what in the world are we teaching kids?

Of course, I'm 22 and don't have a family of my own, but I feel that it only takes the slightest amount of common sense to teach the young how to treat others- much less when they go to college and begin their "life of freedom."

And to the coaches and faculty who may or "may not" have ignored these cases: are athletics more important than character?

I always understood athletes were built on character, but Baylor isn't living up to this.