Since 2000, the Baylor athletics department has seen its share of scandal – from illegal tuition payments for members of the basketball team and the murder of another basketball player by one of the beneficiaries and a conspiracy to cover it all up to an extortion attempt by another basketball coach who threatened to deport one of his star recruits if he didn’t sign with Baylor to the latest evidence of a history of ignored sexual assault cases involving football players.
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University officials time and again had knowledge of assaults committed by football players and others but took no action, Hernandez said, adding that she won’t drop her lawsuit.
Reading the statement issued by Baylor, which offers up some details on what Pepper Hamilton found, it becomes evident that all of this happened because it was determined that winning football games was much, much more important than the safety of the student body. At a Baylor salary of $3.135 million per year, Briles thought he didn’t have to answer to anyone – not a sheriff, not a university president, not a crying coed.
Athletics director Ian McCaw was put on probation, and Ken Starr lost his title as the university’s president.
The findings, and the university’s reaction to them, “have sent a powerful message to survivors of sexual violence, and to all women on Baylor’s campus, that they are believed, their stories are heard, they were wronged not only by their rapists, but also by their university”, Natalie R. Webb, a doctoral student in religion, wrote in an email. But something had to be done because if ever there was a school and athletic program demonstrating a lack of institutional control, it’s Baylor and the Baylor football team. Ken Starr will no longer serve as university president but will remain at the school in the role of chancellor. Another was convicted in 2014 and given 20 years in prison for two counts of sexual assault. FILE – In this October 19, 2013, file photo, Baylor head coach Art Briles, center, watches during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Iowa State in Waco, Texas.
Baylor’s Board of Regents adopted the recommendations and also called on the Baylor community to pray for healing for the victims of sexual assault.
Baylor asked a law firm a year ago to conduct a review of its handling of sexual assault cases following allegations that the football program mishandled several cases of players attacking women.
Briles did not respond to requests for comment.
Speaking to reporters in Oklahoma City at the Big 12 baseball tournament, Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said it is presumptuous to issue a statement given that he doesn’t have the information the regents considered.
According to Pepper Hamilton, “administrators engaged in conduct that could be perceived as victim-blaming” and “perceived judgmental responses by administrators based on a complainant’s alcohol or other drug use or prior consensual sexual activity also discouraged reporting or continued participation in the process” were among the failures.
In a statement, Starr apologized to “those victims who were not treated with the care, concern, and support they deserve”.
He insisted he didn’t learn about the problems until fall 2015 and launched investigations as soon as he did. “May God grant us grace, mercy, and peace”, Starr said. Robin, I think it’s potentially devastating because it’s referenced in the report, before art Briles arrived at Baylor during the big 12 era which started in 1996, Baylor had been 35 and 101.
Even in its abbreviated form that was released Thursday, however, the Pepper Hamilton report implicated Briles.
Baylor’s football team is one of the top programs in the nation.
In outlining how the school failed victims of sexual assault, investigating law firm Pepper Hamilton found Baylor had little interest in educating its administrators about Title IX, and a school ill-equipped to handle allegations of sexual assault fairly and impartially.
The report found football coaches and athletic administrators had run their own improper investigations into rape claims, and that in some cases, they chose not to report such allegations to an administrator outside of athletics.
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After all, he had always made his own rules.
