Kenneth Starr, famed sexual mudslinger for conservative interests, has a big problem. The Board of Regents at Baylor University has voted to kick him out of his job over the handling of the Baylor University sexual assault scandal that has been building for some time now. Deadspin is reporting that the initial findings are pretty damning of both the Baylor football program as well as Baylor’s general administration.
The investigation determined that Baylor “discouraged” women from reporting accusations, and “retaliated” against at least one who did.
The football program’s staff reportedly did very little to bring these allegations to light and when they did, something even more damning took place:
In addition, the investigations were conducted inthe context of a broader culture and belief by many administrators that sexual violence “doesn’t happen here.” Administrators engaged in conduct that could be perceived as victim-blaming,focusing on the complainant’s choices and actions, rather than robustly investigating the allegations, including the actions of the respondent. In many instances, student conduct investigators conducted cursory investigations and failed to identify and interview readily apparent witnesses or gather relevant evidence
And according to the report, though no names are available at this time, university administrators’ actions in one instance “constituted retaliation against a complainant for reporting sexual assault.” Kenneth Starr’s job is on the line in part because Baylor’s football team makes the school over $100 million a year and Starr’s job is to give some legal and moral authority to the school’s reputation.
The University did not provide sufficient institutional support for Title IX functions. Prior to November 2014, the Title IX Coordinator position was assigned to senioradministrators, each of whom already had a full profile of professional responsibilities. The administrators in those roles lacked the necessary training, experience and frame of reference to meaningfully implement Title IX responsibilities. They also lacked the necessary time,resources or infrastructure to meaningfully implement Title IX responsibilities.
One thing that Kenneth Starr knows how to do is cost institutions tons and tons of money in legal fees.