Ken Starr had a distinguished political and legal career, but didn't become a household name until he served as special prosecutor in the Whitewater investigation, most remembered by Monica Lewinsky's blue dress. After that unfortunate episode in American political history ended, he faded back into the relative obscurity of academia, eventually becoming president of Baylor University, my alma mater. A rape scandal at Baylor and his subsequent firing as president vaulted Starr back into the headlines. He tells the story of his time at Baylor and the events surrounding his firing in Bear Country: The Baylor Story.
A couple things really stood out in A Baylor Story. First, Ken Starr loves Baylor. It was evident to any observer during his tenure, whether he was running onto the field with the Baylor Line at football games, greeting students on campus, or speaking publicly in his role as president. He loves Baylor's history, Baylor's mission, Baylor's students, Baylor's campus, Baylor's alumni, Baylor's hometown--seriously, everything about Baylor. If any other evidence is needed, how about this: a guy who's lived in various places around the country, who has the means to live just about anywhere he wants, who has a high profile public presence, and whose last place of employment before Baylor was at Pepperdine, in the picturesque community of Malibu, California, has chosen to stay in Waco! I love Waco, too, but I don't have the means and connections that he has.
The second thing I noticed is that, just like his public personality, Starr is ultra positive and encouraging. He has great difficulty saying anything negative about anyone or anything. Most of the time he's full of praise and superlatives. This is certainly consistent with anything I've seen from him during his time at Baylor, but is especially commendable considering that his treatment was sometimes less than stellar and his dismissal from his role was abrupt and unexpected. While he mentions a few people with whom he had disagreements, his attitude is consistently gracious and conciliatory. I'm not sure my attitude, toward Baylor, the media, and other critics, would be as positive were I in his position.
About 3/4 of Bear Country is about Baylor itself. He does a great job of capturing the personality of the school and campus life, especially commending Baylor's commitment to be a highly-ranked research university while retaining its commitment to the Christian faith. But the occasion for the book, and the sections that will be of greater interest to readers outside of Baylor circles, is his recounting of the events surrounding the 2016 rape scandal that led to his firing.
One thing he's clear about: despite what many have reported, "at no time did Baylor University fail to have a high-level Title IX coordinator in place. Never. Not for one instant." He objects to the idea that "Pat Neff Hall [where Baylor's top administrative offices are housed] was oblivious to student safety concerns." He details Baylor's efforts to educate and protect students, even dating from before the "Dear Colleague" letter was issued. I'm glad to read his descriptions and defense. There were personal failures and inconsistent applications of policy, but those are human errors more than institutional errors.
Starr, football Coach Art Briles, and other officials who were fired in the wake of this scandal have been smeared forever by inaccurate, or, at the very least, incomplete reporting of the events in question. If I were Starr, I'd probably be bitter and defensive. In The Baylor Story, Starr is generous in his assessments of other people, gracious in his recounting of his time at Baylor, and matter-of-fact in his recollections. I know some will object to his perspective and find fault with his version of events, but, in fairness, his perspective is important and should be considered in light of the agenda-driven and inflammatory reporting that has come out of Waco.
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