Judge: Baylor must turn over documents

Lawsuit plaintiffs sought documents tied to sexual assault investigation

A federal judge rules Baylor University must produce some interviews, documents and other files it compiled during an independent investigation into its handling of campus sexual assault.

Baylor University must produce some interviews, documents and other files it compiled as part of an independent investigation of its handling of campus sexual assault, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ordered the private Waco university to produce the files, initially submitted to law firm Pepper Hamilton, in connection with a lawsuit involving multiple anonymous complainants who say Baylor was indifferent to their student-on-student sexual assault and harassment allegations. Ten women have joined the lawsuit since it first was filed in June 2016.

The documents included in Pitman’s order had been sought by attorneys representing the plaintiffs.

Baylor retained Pepper Hamilton in September 2015, and released a short summary of the firm’s findings the following year. The university has said Pepper Hamilton’s full report was delivered orally and, thus, the university could not release more, a position that critics said created unneeded secrecy and showed a lack of transparency from university leadership. Baylor, citing attorney-client privilege, argued in this case that it should not have to produce the materials.

Even after this ruling, it is not clear exactly how much of this information ever will be public, as the order allows some information produced by Baylor to be kept confidential, said attorney Chad Dunn, who is representing the plaintiffs.

“We expect those guidelines will apply to some of this material, and, ultimately, the court will make a ruling on what information given to Pepper Hamilton can be made public,” Dunn said.

Still, he applauded the judge’s order.

“This ruling is a critical step forward in what has been a promised transparency by the university, that has not yet been realized,” he said. “It’s also important to these plaintiffs and the other victims to understand what happened to them and why, to bring closure and justice.”

In a statement, Baylor called the order “complex” and said it appreciated that attorney workproduct privileges would continue to apply, protecting some materials from discovery. The university acknowledged in the statement that it now is required to produce a log of certain work products and to identify witnesses who were interviewed.

“Baylor continues to express concerns regarding the protection of students’ personal records, specifically the desire of many students — who are unrelated to this case — that their identities remain anonymous and their information confidential,” the statement read.

Over 1 million pages

Pepper Hamilton found that Baylor’s football program acted as if it were “above the rules,” with coaches and other officials knowing about sexual assault allegations and not reporting them.

The investigation involved more than 65 interviews and more than a million pages of documents. Football coach Art Briles was fired and Baylor President Ken Starr and Athletic Director Ian McCaw later resigned after the university released a short summary of the report last year. Baylor also has released a list of 105 Pepper Hamilton recommendations for change, which it said it completed earlier this year.

Facing lawsuits

Baylor faces several lawsuits from students who say the university did not properly handle their reports of sexual assault and rape.

Additionally, in October, a former administrator filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, alleging that the university violated the civil rights law known as Title IX, which forbids gender-based violence and discrimination.