Questions Swirl Amid Reports of Baylor President’s Firing

LM Otero, AP Images

Baylor University is not confirming reports that emerged on Tuesday that Kenneth W. Starr had been fired as president. But the furor and speculation that swirled around Mr. Starr’s status are the latest signs that the university’s problems with handling sexual assaults go far beyond concerns about the conduct of athletes who have been accused of rape.

Since 2013, the university has been mired in controversy as a growing number of students have come out alleging that they were raped and that Baylor did little to respond to those incidents or punish their assailants. Some of the incidents involved charges of rape against two football players who were eventually found guilty in criminal proceedings.

As the list of sexual-assault cases at Baylor has grown, students and others have questioned whether the university did enough to respond to the allegations. This month, The Dallas Morning News published an article focused on the “silence” of Mr. Starr, who became Baylor’s president in 2010 and may be known best for his investigation of President Bill Clinton.

Mr. Starr’s alleged dismissal by the Board of Regents was first reported on Tuesday morning by Horns Digest, a website that focuses on the University of Texas Longhorns. Other news sites later said that they had confirmed the information.

In a statement sent by email, Baylor said the board would not “respond to rumors, speculation or reports based on unnamed sources.” It went on to say that the university would provide more information when “official news is available.” It added: “We expect an announcement by June 3.”

A Baylor alumna who is leading an effort to make the university more accountable said Mr. Starr’s departure would be an important first step. But the breadth of the problem goes far beyond the president’s office and the football program, said Laura E. Seay, a 2000 Baylor graduate who is now an assistant professor of government at Colby College.

Stefanie Mundhenk, a 2015 graduate of Baylor who has written about being raped at Baylor and how the university responded to her complaint, said the current uproar over Mr. Starr’s status is a “lose-lose” for the university. If he didn’t deserve to be fired, she said, then the regents are just making him the scapegoat. And if he did deserve to be fired, “it means that the allegations were so egregious and Ken Starr had a heavy hand in covering up sexual-assault allegations.”

Not Just Football Players

Since putting her name at the top of an open letter to the university, Ms. Seay said she had heard about 100 incidents of rape at Baylor, but only about 15 involving football players.

While the allegations involving athletes are a fraction of those incidents, the news-media attention they drew was important because it sparked a reaction among other survivors, said Ms. Seay. Several other women have now come forward alleging that the university mishandled their complaints of sexual assault.

It is not yet clear whether the university’s athletics director, Ian McCaw, or football coach, Art Briles, will also be ushered out.

Mr. Starr has issued several public statements meant to reassure students and the public that the university is taking the issue seriously. And Baylor has already taken several steps to shore up its response to reports of sexual violence, though some of its past efforts seemed to lag behind the expectations of federal regulations.

In November 2014, the university hired its first Title IX coordinator — three and a half years after the U.S. Department of Education instructed colleges to put someone in that role.

This past September, Baylor hired the law firm Pepper Hamilton LLC to assess how the university was responding to cases of alleged sexual violence. And in March, the university announced a $5-million plan to increase the number of staff members dedicated to preventing and responding to sexual assaults.

Earlier this month, the university said that its board had received “a comprehensive briefing” from Pepper Hamilton and would determine over the coming weeks “how to decisively act” on the law firm’s findings and recommendations. Those findings have not yet been made public.

Only time will tell if the measures will be effective, said Ms. Mundhenk. But so far, she said, she has heard from other rape survivors that the university’s response is still inadequate. “Baylor has a tendency to do one thing and pretend it fixes everything,” she said.

Ms. Seay said she would like the regents to release the law firm’s findings or at least a summary in order to show how poor the university’s handling of sexual-misconduct allegations has been.

There would probably be anger from alumni and even some people on the campus about Mr. Starr’s firing, Ms. Seay said. He was beloved and even called “Uncle Ken” by some.

“It’s only through transparency and building trust,” she said, “that the regents can fix this situation.”

Eric Kelderman writes about money and accountability in higher education, including such areas as state policy, accreditation, and legal affairs. You can find him on Twitter @etkeld, or email him at eric.kelderman@chronicle.com.