Baylor University president Ken Starr has reportedly been fired in the wake of the school’s growing sexual assault scandal tied to the Bears’ football program.
Ken Starr Reportedly Out As President At Baylor
Several media outlets, including KCEN-TV in Waco, TX, are reporting that the Baylor Board of Regents has fired Ken Starr. For its part, the board has neither confirmed nor denied these rumors, issuing only the following statement:
The Baylor Board of Regents continues its work to review the findings of the Pepper Hamilton investigation and we anticipate further communication will come after the Board completes its deliberations. We will not respond to rumors, speculation or reports based on unnamed sources, but when official news is available, the University will provide it.
The statement went on to say they expect to have a full response to the Pepper Hamilton report on June 3rd. The law firm was retained by the school to conduct a third party investigation into the growing allegations of sexual assault on female students by Baylor football players.
Two now-former Baylor players have been convicted of varying levels of assault and of them, Tevin Elliot, is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Last week, ESPN’s Outside the Lines reported that there are at least nine more cases being brought by alleged victims, stemming from incidents from 2009-2016. The university is also the defendant in two separate Title IX lawsuits, in which alleged victims of sexual assaults claim they were not properly tended to by the university.
Starr, who gained national notoriety as the special prosecutor investigating Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, has been president at Baylor since 2010. Prior to that, he served as Dean of Pepperdine University’s law school.
Baylor’s official web site shows no change in Starr’s status.
We will continue to update everyone on this developing story as more information becomes available.