Starr reflects on Baylor years and tumultuous end to presidency in new book

In a wide-ranging interview, former Baylor University President Ken Starr said he thinks former head football coach Art Briles is “an honorable man,” while also saying a need remains for full transparency regarding the school’s damaging sexual assault scandal.

Starr also said he expected a more comprehensive report from the law firm that investigated Baylor’s institutional response to sexual violence, and he voiced concerns about federal interpretations of Title IX during President Barack Obama’s tenure.

Starr’s new book, “Bear Country: The Baylor Story,” was released this week. He called it “a love story to and about Baylor.”

Starr was removed as president in May after Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton LLP found “fundamental failure” in the school’s Title IX implementation, regents reported in a 13-page “Findings of Fact” document. Briles also was fired amid the tumult.

“However, we don’t have all the facts. We have these email and text messages (made public through a legal filing by regents earlier this year), and I don’t know how to assess them. I’ve always been of the view that you need to have all the facts and then you assess them. So it would be my hope that we have all the facts because we need to have transparency. We need to have truth out there so we can come to informed judgments.”

Read more here

Back