Ken Starr has already lost his presidential status at Baylor University, but today, he resigned as chancellor as the fallout continues for his supposed mishandling of a scandal thats rocked the school.
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The revelation about Starr comes amid a leadership shakeup as Baylor confronts the fallout from a scathing report on its handling of sexual assault cases involving football players and others. “The captain goes down with the ship”, said Starr, 69, who was hired as president of the nation’s largest Baptist university in 2010 after gaining renown as the special prosecutor who investigated Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky, a White House intern. ESPN quoted Starr as calling for transparency at Baylor, saying that “as each day goes by that need becomes more and more pressing”.
Starr told ESPN that he didn’t think the school had a problem until the August 2015 conviction of football player Sam Ukwuachu, who sexually assaulted another student. “We need to heal Baylor”.
In a statement, Baylor later confirmed that it accepted Starr’s resignation and thanked him “for his years of service”.
In an interview on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines”, Mr. Starr said will resign as university chancellor, a position he was demoted to after the investigation.
Starr asked a law firm previous year to review Baylor’s handling of sexual assault cases following allegations that the school mishandled several cases in which football players were accused of attacking women. “Our students and their families deserve more, and we have committed our full attention to improving our processes, establishing accountability and ensuring appropriate actions are taken to support former, current and future students”.
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The university had previously stripped Starr of the presidency and suspended head football coach Art Briles. He called Briles a “player’s coach” who only “wants the best” for the young men. And in some cases, coaches or staff members of the football team met with victims, but didn’t report the allegations to anyone else at the school. Many campuses across the country had far more rape and sexual assault reports in 2014 than Baylor. The suit also alleges Briles and McCaw knew of a previous assault by Elliott. Two players were later convicted of sexual assault, The Associated Press reported. But the board said at the time there was an agreement in principle that Starr could stay on as chancellor.
