3. Conference punishes Baylor

University denied 25 percent pending a Title IX review.

The Big 12 will hold back 25 percent of future revenue distribution payments — approximately $8 million annually — from Baylor, pending the outcome of a new independent review of Baylor’s procedures and university governance, according to a statement from the conference. The ruling comes on the heels of an assistant coach’s arrest on a solicitation of prostitution charge. Baylor has also been mired in a sexual assault scandal since 2015.

The Big 12 said Wednesday it will withhold millions of dollars in revenue from Baylor until an outside review determines the university and athletic department are complying with Title IX guidelines and other regulations in the wake of a campus sexual assault scandal.

The league said it would withhold 25 percent of future revenue distribution payments to Baylor. Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Baylor has already received a $10 million payout for part of 2016-17 and the league expects a total payout of $34 million for each of its 10 schools. The league will withhold 25 percent of the remaining projected $24 million payout — or about $6 million this year.

The Big 12 said its board of directors voted unanimously to withhold the money, but Baylor did not take part in the vote.

“By taking these actions the board desires to ensure that the changes that were promised are actually made and that systems are in place to avoid future problems,” said David Boren, the University of Oklahoma president and Big 12 board chairman. “The proportional withholding of revenue distribution payments will be in effect until the board has determined that Baylor is in compliance with conference bylaws and regulations as well as all components of Title IX.”

Baylor is not being fined; the money is being placed in escrow pending a thirdparty verification of Baylor’s reform efforts. But the sanction is the first by the Big 12 since the school in Waco, Texas, was hit by a wave of complaints that it repeatedly or intentionally mishandled assault allegations, many of them involving football players.

Baylor fired coach Art Briles last year and parted ways with university President Ken Starr and Athletic Director Ian McCaw after an investigation by a law firm found allegations of sexual assault were not dealt with appropriately.

The nation’s largest Baptist university still faces at least six federal and state lawsuits as well as a federal civil-rights investigation into claims the school and football program ignored, mishandled or tried to cover up reports of sexual or physical abuse and other criminal misdeeds. One court filing last week alleges more than 50 acts of rape by more than 30 football players over a four-year period, and that Baylor promoted a culture of “sex, drugs and violence.”

Baylor was given 105 recommendations for reforming its Title IX process by Pepper Hamilton, the firm that handled the initial investigation. Interim President David Garland said the university considered the recommendations a “mandate.”

“Baylor already had planned to hire an outside auditor to audit the implementation of our enhanced practices, and we welcome the Big 12 Conference’s request of an independent review,” Garland said.