Irwin Thompson/Staff photographer

Baylor is wrong to think the clock will run out on game it's playing with sexual assaults

Profile image for Dallas Morning News Editorial
Dallas Morning News Editorial

Baylor's board of regents is more determined than ever to run out the clock on calls for a full accounting of the university's sexual assault investigation.

Neither pressure from deep-pocket donors and alumni nor questions from parents and current students have moved the regents. Nor have months of blistering news coverage about the school's handling of sexual violence complaints.

Baylor's board foolishly maintains a "no comment" posture -- except to release a detail here or there, without documentation, that digs a deeper hole for the regents' two villains, former football coach Art Briles and president Ken Starr.

Otherwise, the board is focused on that final whistle.

Here's the problem with the regents' strategy: There is no final whistle. Not with at least a half-dozen lawsuits in the hopper.

Given the trustees' lack of interest in following the wishes of their own Baylor Nation and releasing a written report that proves the appropriate people were removed and no bad actors remain employed, the courthouse is the best remaining hope.

Our repeated request for details that back up the Pepper Hamilton law firm's summary and analysis is not some game of chicken with the regents. It's an attempt -- on behalf of women at Baylor and campuses nationwide -- to assure that others aren't at risk.

The investigation found "fundamental failure" in Baylor's Title IX implementation and a football program operating above the rules, with coaches and staff failing to stop or deter sexual assaults.

So who were those coaches and staffers?

Briles' son and offensive coordinator, Kendal, has just landed the same job at Florida Atlantic; bosses there say everyone they talked to at Baylor assured them that the younger Briles had done nothing wrong. That's similar to what Liberty University said after recently hiring former Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw.

But what of those staff members whose departures weren't noticed because they were low on the org chart? They may well be employed in similar jobs at other schools, circumventing ugly problems for their new employers.

Ditto for individuals outside Baylor athletics who are culpable in the systemic Title IX failures - ranging from bungled investigations of sexual assault cases to woefully inadequate reporting and tracking protocols.

Briles and Starr didn't singlehandedly do everything alleged by Pepper Hamilton. What are the trustees covering up? Whom are they trying to protect? 

At least 13 survivors of sexual or physical assault have sued Baylor, and we are watching those pending lawsuits carefully.

Briles' recent decision to sue three regents and Chief Operating Officer Reagan Ramsower may also shake loose details. If his lawsuit, alleging libel, slander and conspiracy, gets as far as depositions, more is sure to be revealed.

Uncomfortable facts also may emerge in the lawsuit filed by former Baylor athletics staffer Tom Hill against Pepper Hamilton, alleging defamation and negligence.

Whatever the board of regents is hiding now will only hurt Baylor down the road, whether in pretrial discovery or in future college tragedies. We are rooting for the truth to emerge before the game ends.

Waiting for answers

Baylor board of regents chair Ron Murff and colleagues James Gray, David Harper and Dennis Wiles met with us Nov. 3 and vowed to continue answering our questions. We have not yet received a response to these Nov. 10 queries:

1. Baylor released a detailed timeline regarding one football-related gang rape report. Please provide details of the other incidents referenced by regents, which they said involved 17 women and 19 football players, including four gang rapes.

2. What is the status of our Nov. 3 request to you for the release of all communication between senior vice president and chief operating officer Reagan Ramsower and former Title IX coordinator Patty Crawford?