Ken Starr says he will step down as chancellor amid Baylor sexual assault scandal

Ken Starr will resign as the chancellor at Baylor in the wake of a report last week that accused several university leaders of not properly handling allegations of sexual assault.

“The captain goes down with the ship,” Starr said in an interview with ESPN, which broke the news Wednesday morning.

Starr already had been stripped of his role as Baylor president by the Board of Regents on May 27 following the release of the university-commissioned report that came down hard on the school for doing little in response to accusations of sexual assault involving members of the football team.

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At that time, football Coach Art Briles was fired and Athletic Director Ian McCaw was placed on probation. McCaw resigned four days later.

Starr was allowed to stay on as chancellor and law school professor, and he says he will keep the latter role. But he will step down as chancellor effective immediately, he told ESPN, “as a matter of conscience.”

“We need to put this horrible experience behind us,” he said.

Starr added that he “willingly accepted responsibility” for the situation at Baylor, although he said “didn’t know what was happening” as far as any mishandling of sexual assault accusations.

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