Ken Starr stepping down as Baylor chancellor in wake of scandal

Former Baylor University President and Chancellor Ken Starr.
(Image credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Kenneth Starr, the former president of Baylor University who was demoted to chancellor last week amid criticism of the school's handling of sexual assault allegations against football players, is stepping down from his new role.

Starr told ESPN's Joe Schad on Wednesday he will still teach at Baylor Law School. Baylor is a private Baptist college in Waco, Texas, and as chancellor, Starr would have been in charge of external fundraising. "We need to put this horrible situation behind us," he said. "We need to heal Baylor." Starr, famous for being the special prosecutor who investigated Bill Clinton's sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, said that to his knowledge, sexual assault was not a major issue at Baylor until last August, when a football player was tried for rape, ABC News reports. He said that he "accepts responsibility" for the scandal but "didn't know about what was happening." ESPN's Paula Lavigne looked at police reports and found that since 2012, campus police officers have handled 12 sexual assault cases.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.