Today I'm Proud To Be A Baylor Bear

The first job I ever had was to call Baylor alumni, parents, and friends of the university to raise funds. For more than 5 years, as both an undergraduate student and a seminary student, a caller and later a supervisor, I cheerfully informed people in the Baylor family about all the positive things happening at Baylor and then solicited their support. For the vast majority of my time at the call center, there was no shortage of good news to share.

I’ve been grateful not to have to make those calls this year.

I’m a Bear through and through—I have two Baylor diplomas in my office, a Baylor decal on my car, a growl towel in my living room, and a Line jersey in my closet. My wife works for the university. 5 years after graduation, I still call Waco home. I love Baylor—its traditions, its athletic programs, its mission, its faculty and staff.

But fundamentally, what I love most about Baylor is its student body. Ultimately, they are the university; they are the reason it exists. And what has become clear in the last year is that Baylor has been failing its students, specifically students who are victims of sexual assault.

The names and stories do not need to be retold here. Any news article you read about sexual assault at Baylor will have the names of football players associated with sexual assaults—some accused, some arrested, some convicted. The more in-depth articles may mention other sexual assault cases at Baylor, ones that had nothing to do with the football program. But for reasons both legal and ethical, you are unlikely to find the names of victims in these stories. Their stories go almost entirely untold.

More than 3 months ago, I gathered with several hundred other members of the Baylor family—mostly students, as well as some alumni, faculty, and other concerned parties—for a candlelight vigil outside Judge Kenneth Starr’s home on campus. The vigil and the service that followed at Truett Seminary were intended to give a voice to those victims who felt silenced and an opportunity for them to be heard. The vigil’s organizer, Stephanie Mundhenk, had written a blog post a few days earlier that had already gone viral about her own experience with sexual assault at Baylor—about the assault itself and about the ineffective and seemingly uncaring response when she sought help from the university. She said what was apparent that night and what has only become more obvious since then: “I think Baylor has failed a lot of us here tonight. We wanted this event to say it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Since that night, more stories have arisen of sexual assault at Baylor, some new and some buried long ago. Baylor has responded with promises of change, increased funding to its Title IX office and counseling services, and by commissioning an outside investigation by the Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton. It is the findings of that investigation, which Baylor regents have been combing through the last few days, which have led to today’s big news—that Art Briles has been fired as head football coach, that Judge Starr has “transitioned” to serving only as chancellor while losing his presidency, and that Athletic Director Ian McCaw has been sanctioned and placed on probation.

All Baylor fans and alumni, myself included, are stunned by the news, particularly about Briles, almost certainly the most beloved figure on the Baylor campus just a year ago. I thought that, despite all the reports and the accompanying bad press, Briles was untouchable. I cynically believed that, due to all the money he’s brought into the university (including the sparkling new football stadium on the Brazos, which never would have been built without his teams’ success), he was the Baylor VIP least likely to suffer any significant consequences.

Yet here we are, with Baylor suddenly facing a drastically different future on all horizons than anyone dreamed a year ago. And, while my reaction is tempered by a desire for more details (I hope the regents will release the full report from Pepper Hamilton in the interest of transparency), I’m more proud of Baylor today than I have been at any time in the past year.

With these moves, the Board of Regents has made something clear to the Baylor family that the past decade’s success has sometimes blurred—nothing is more important to the university than its students. Not money. Not academic reputation. Not national influence. Not even football.

Hearing Richard Willis, chairman of the Board of Regents, say he was “horrified” by the findings of the Pepper Hamilton investigation was a breath of fresh air to me, because that was exactly how I felt three months ago listening to a sexual assault victim tell her story—both about the assault itself and her fear that telling Baylor about it would do her more harm than good. Seeing actions put to words, seeing Baylor’s Christian mission used not only for slogans but as a standard, gives me renewed faith in my university. To see the most powerful men at Baylor held accountable for their failures, while painful for everyone in the Baylor family, myself included, is to see Baylor caring more for people in need than for its own success.

These administrative moves will not prevent all future sexual assaults against Baylor students. They may not prevent any. Sexual violence is an epidemic across the nation’s colleges and universities, and a few big names losing their positions won’t magically solve that problem. But now I can confidently and sincerely say something I couldn’t have said last week with a straight face—that Baylor doesn’t tolerate that in its culture. Now I can proudly say that Baylor deeply cares when one of its students is violated, and that the university will do everything in its power to help those who have been hurt and to prevent others from suffering the same crime. Now I can be proud of my university again.

The football program will suffer with Art Briles gone. The day-to-day operations and vision for Baylor’s future will suffer with Ken Starr moved to a new role. Nevertheless, I’m thankful, because now, when students suffer, I know Baylor cares.

EDIT: Baylor has published a 13-page "Findings of Fact" document on their website detailing the findings of the Pepper Hamilton investigation in the hours since I wrote this blog post. Having said I wanted Baylor to release more details from the investigation in the interest of transparency, I applaud them for doing so and encourage you to read it: http://www.baylor.edu/rtsv/doc.php/266596.pdf