Written by Jake New at InsideHigherEd.com
Sitting in his office last November, surrounded by football regalia and ornaments featuring Bible passages, Kenneth Starr, the president of Baylor University, defended his institution’s handling of sexual assault and domestic violence.
“If you look at the way we approach the issue of interpersonal violence,” Starr said, “I believe a fair-minded judge would say, ‘You’re doing everything that you can.’”
Baylor’s Board of Regents seemingly would disagree. After months of allegations that the world’s largest Baptist university has continuously mishandled — and sought to suppress public discourse about — sexual assaults committed by its football players, the board reportedly was moving this week to fire Starr, and his resignation is now expected.
According to sources close to the situation, the university’s athletic director, Ian McCaw, and its head football coach, Art Briles, are “also on the chopping block,” but their fate remains less clear. Starr has not been fired, though an announcement about his job status is expected sometime near the end of this month. Starr could have the option to remain on campus as part of the faculty. Starr currently has dual positions of president and chancellor, the latter job largely focused on external relations. One possibility is that he will remain on as chancellor but not president.
Earlier this month, Pepper Hamilton, a law firm the university hired to investigate how it has handled allegations of sexual assault, presented a lengthy oral report to the board summarizing its findings. The report places ultimate blame for the mishandling of several sexual assault cases squarely on Starr.
“The Baylor Board of Regents continues its work to review the findings of the Pepper Hamilton investigation, and we anticipate further communication will come after the board completes its deliberations,” the university said Tuesday in a written statement. “We will not respond to rumors, speculation or reports based on unnamed sources, but when official news is available, the university will provide it.”
The Pepper Hamilton report, according to the sources, found that Starr encouraged a culture of second chances, while providing little oversight to the athletic department and the football team, and failed “to provide consistent and meaningful engagement with Title IX,” the federal antidiscrimination law that dictates how colleges should investigate and adjudicate cases of campus sexual assault.
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