Mulkey’s comments show flaws in culture
Kim Mulkey insists she didn’t mean what she said Saturday night. Not when she told Baylor fans they should punch anyone who says they won’t send their daughters to the school because of the ongoing sexual-assault scandal. Not when she lamented she was “tired of hearing about it.” Not when she chided the media to “move on, find another story to write.”
She swears those were bad word choices.
But the sentiment behind those words?
The Baylor women’s basketball coach hasn’t disputed the frustration or the annoyance or the irritation behind what she said. She didn’t do it Sunday in a lengthy interview with ESPNW or Monday at Oklahoma after her team wrapped up another Big 12 championship season by throttling the Sooners, and there’s no reason to think she’ll do it when her team arrives in Oklahoma City later this week for the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament.
wrapped up another Big 12 championship season by throttling the Sooners, and there’s no reason to think she’ll do it when her team arrives in Oklahoma City later this week for the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Frankly, when asked Monday in Norman about the whole situation, she became defensive and curt, her frustration and annoyance and irritation over the subject apparent once again.
The entire episode is troubling. Extremely troubling. Not just as it relates to Mulkey but to Baylor as a whole.
We again have to question — are things really changing at Baylor?
There is evidence that policies and procedures are changing. Less than a month ago when the Big 12 announced it would withhold millions in conference revenues until Baylor got its act together, we were reminded that the school has adopted nearly a hundred recommendations to reform its Title IX process. That includes better methods of reporting, addressing and punishing sexual assault by students. That’s good. So was the dismissal of one of the football team’s strength and conditioning coaches after his arrest for prostitution solicitation. Of course, news broke Tuesday night that star defensive back Travon Blanchard has been suspended indefinitely after a woman was granted a protective order against him. In the filing, she alleged several violent incidents involving Blanchard last year, including having her finger broken and cut so severely that she was unable to have it stitched, being thrown to the ground, and being slammed into a sofa, bed and walls. At most
schools, we’d expect his dismissal. At Baylor, we don’t know.
Mulkey’s words have only muddied those waters.
She clarified some of what she said Saturday in that Sunday interview with ESPNW, explaining that she never meant to suggest victims should move on and expressing anger about the way victims were treated at the school. But the feelings behind her words remain. They hint at the fact that many believe the school is beingtreated unfairly. The criticism is too heavy. The spotlight is too harsh.
“The problems we have at Baylor,” Mulkey said at one point Saturday, “are no different than the problems at any other school in America. “Period.” Wrong. Yes, there is sexual assault on campuses everywhere. Sadly, that isn’t in dispute. ButBaylor isn’t immersed in scandal because of sexual assault but rather because ofa massive and prolonged
cover-upof sexual assault. Big difference. What Mulkey said about Baylor being like every other school is one of the things she hasn’t walked back since Saturday, but she herself indicated that she was part of the investigation process last summer. She knows then how bad the situation was and how long it will take not only to remedy the problems.
And yet, only nine months after the investigation’s findings became public, we hear a “woe is Baylor, we’re not being treated fairly” sentiment.
That gives us a peek behind the green-andgold curtain — here’s guessing Mulkey said what many Baylor folks are feeling —andwhat we glimpse leaves more questions than answers. Are Baylor’s leaders making changes because they feel pressure to do so or because they believe it’s the right thing to do? Do they understand thatthe scandalwas fueled by rampant disrespect for women and systematic disregard for rules and laws?
The culture must change. That takes time and effort. Not weeks. Not months. Years and years. But when you hear a figurehead say she is tired of hearing about the scandal and wants people to move on, you wonder about Baylor’s level of commitment to truly reform. To actually improve.
I want to believe Mulkey when she says “nobody is dismissing what happened here”as she didSunday in that interview with ESPNW, but we have to be skeptical after she said so many things Saturday that run contrary to that sentiment. Things that were off the cuff but from the heart.
Remember the Big 12 decision to withhold big bags of cash until Baylor gets its act together?
The league might want to find a bigger vault because it might be a while.