Ken Starr, the man who championed morality in the 1990’s and burned through $90 million taxdollars to discover President Bill Clinton had lied about oral sex with an intern, today was removed as president of Baylor University in wake of a sex-scandal.
The irony.
An investigation at Baylor, a private Baptist university, found that Starr was responsible for heading a “fundamental failure” by the university in its handling of accusations of sexual assault against football players.
“We were horrified by the extent of these acts of sexual violence on our campus,” said Richard Willis, chair of the Baylor Board of Regents. “This investigation revealed the University’s mishandling of reports in what should have been a supportive, responsive and caring environment for students. The depth to which these acts occurred shocked and outraged us.”
Investigators found that Baylor officials failed to heed federal statutes, including Title IX and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. More damaging, Baylor under Starr’s leadership dragged its feet on looking into accusations of sexual assault by football players and actively discouraged “some complainants from reporting or participating in student conduct processes and in one instance constituted retaliation against a complainant for reporting sexual assault.”
Starr, the Republican-appointed independent counsel whose investigation of Clinton found no wrongdoing in the Whitewater, FBI files, or Vince Foster suicide case, became famous after a low level administration official, Linda Tripp, gave him secret recordings of Monica Lewinsky admitting to an affair with the president.
Clinton lied under oath about his relationship with Lewinsky, and in 1998, Republicans in the House impeached him. He was not convicted in the senate.
Starr has been given another position at Baylor, and he has not commented on his demotion.