Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Starr resigns as Baylor chancellor
WACO, Texas — Kenneth Starr resigned as chancellor of Baylor University on Wednesday, a week after the former prosecutor who led the investigation of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal was removed as the school’s president over its handling of sexual assault complaints against football players.
Starr, who will continue to teach at the law school, told ESPN’s Outside the Lines in an interview broadcast Wednesday that he didn’t know about the allegations of sexual assault involving members of Baylor’s football program until media reports first surfaced in 2015 during a player’s trial.
“I didn’t know about what was happening, but I have to, and I willingly do accept responsibility. The captain goes down with the ship,” said Starr, who was hired as president of the nation’s largest Baptist university in 2010.
The school hired Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton to investigate the matter last year. It released its findings last week, determining that under Starr’s leadership, Baylor did little to respond to accusations of sexual assault involving football players over several years. School regents came under fire for allowing Starr to stay on in the prominent role of chancellor for external fundraising. Starr told ESPN that he resigned the position Wednesday morning, effective immediately, “with sorrow” and “as a matter of conscience.”
Baylor officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The same day Baylor released its report, the regents fired head coach Art Briles and sanctioned athletic director Ian McCaw, who resigned Monday, the same day the school hired Jim Grobe to coach the 2016 season.
The report didn’t identify specific cases, but two football players have been convicted of sexual assault since 2014. In the past year, there have been multiple reports of other alleged assaults and women who said the school did nothing to help.
The report said school administrators discouraged students from reporting or participating in student conduct reviews of sexual assault complaints, and that they even contributed to or accommodated a “hostile” environment against the alleged victims.