Baylor's survivors of sexual assault are the bravest, strongest women imaginable.

Rape is so much more than physical trauma. Your body is the crime scene from which you can't escape. Trust in people, especially people you know, dissolves.

For survivors, getting through each day can be burden -- and victory -- enough. That's why it's so remarkable that dozens, perhaps scores, of Baylor women have persevered beyond the trauma to try to protect their peers. For their uncommon impact, the Baylor sexual assault survivors are worthy finalists for 2016 Texan of the Year.

At Baylor, as at other universities nationwide, sexual violence is a longstanding, mostly hidden, phenomenon. The truth began to crack open in August 2015, when football star Sam Ukwuachu, a former All-American and transfer from Boise State, was convicted of a 2013 sexual assault.

Just as disturbing as his crime was the university's lackadaisical response to the victim's plight. Although the board of regents called for a comprehensive review of the school's handling of sexual violence reports, other survivors grew frustrated. And they acted.

Multiple women talked to ESPN about violence involving former football player Tevin Elliott, who is serving 20 years in prison for sexual assault. Those survivors provided new details about Baylor's failure to handle their cases appropriately.

One of them, Jasmin Hernandez, filed a Title IX lawsuit against the school and began speaking publicly -- and graphically -- about her case. Dozens more women followed with similar suits.

Also taking a stand was Baylor grad Stefanie Mundhenk, who was sexually assaulted in 2015 not by an athlete but by a fellow member of her university mock trial team. On Feb. 4, Mundhenk published a jarring online account titled: "I was raped at Baylor and this is my story."

"This was bigger than football," Mundhenk says. "It wasn't just about Baylor wanting to protect its winning football team, it was about Baylor wanting to protect its brand."

In the wake of her column, an "Open Letter on Responses to Sexual Assault at Baylor" drew more than 1,700 signatures in just 24 hours. Hundreds of students and faculty members attended a campus vigil organized by survivors.

Still more survivors came forward. Some were still nursing raw emotional wounds. Others reopened those wounds in order to join the call for change.

Like so many colleges, Baylor is only at the beginning of this culture shift. But the discussion would not even have begun without the courageous survivors, who have refused to be shamed into silence or to let the curtain of secrecy descend again.

Not motivated by vengeance but by love, buoyed by their hard-earned self-respect and, in many cases, deep religious faith, the Baylor survivors exemplify the best of what Baylor itself can aspire to become.