AUSTIN, Texas — Ken Starr, who zealously pursued charges against a sitting U.S. president in a White House sex scandal, was stripped of his job as president of Baylor University on Thursday after a scathing review found that under his leadership, the school did little to respond to accusations of sexual assault involving members of its vaunted football program.
The board of regents at the nation’s largest Baptist university said Starr will vacate the presidency on May 31 and stay on as chancellor and law school professor, jobs that will not include any “operational” duties for the school.
Baylor also fired football coach Art Briles and placed athletic director Ian McCaw on probation after an external investigation found the actions of football staff and athletics leadership “in some instances, posed a risk to campus safety and the integrity of the university.”
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.
“We’re deeply sorrowful (for) these events,” Baylor regents chairman Richard Willis said. “We’re honestly just horrified.”
Starr gets to keep a title and a job, but his demotion at the school in Waco, Texas, is a stunning fall for the prosecutor whose dogged investigation of President Bill Clinton’s relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky eventually led to Clinton’s 1998 impeachment.
The review by Philadelphia-based law firm Pepper Hamilton found that under Starr, school administrators discouraged students from reporting or participating in student conduct reviews of sexual assault complaints and even contributed to or accommodated a “hostile” environment against the alleged victims.
In one case, the actions of administrators “constituted retaliation against a complainant for reporting sexual assault,” the report said.
University leadership was also slow to enact federally-required student conduct processes, and administrators failed to identify and eliminate the hostile environment toward victims, the report found.
In a statement to the Waco Tribune-Herald, 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.
“Despite these dark days, I remain resolved to join hands with the Baylor family to continue to build the University as we carry out its distinct mission in Christian higher education. May God grant us grace, mercy, and peace,” Starr said.