As a Baylor alumnus, life-long Baylor football fan, and now a Baylor parent, the last couple of years have been really tough to stomach. The firings, the scandals, the abhorrent behavior by football players and other students, the responses of coaches and university officials to reports of rape and other crimes, and the bumbling PR treatment the university has put together has been painful and disheartening. If you follow Baylor news closely, little in Paula Lavigne and Mark Schlabach's new book Violated: Exposing Rape at Baylor University Amid College Football's Sexual Assault Crisis will be new to you. If you have not followed the news and fan message boards and rumor mills about Baylor closely, consider yourself lucky, but if you want a comprehensive treatment of the scandal, Violated is a good place to start.
Lavigne and Schlabach, ESPN reporters, have been at the forefront of the national media's coverage of Baylor. They were instrumental in bringing broader attention to the scandal and churning out stories about it. I felt like they had a vendetta against Baylor and was prepared to hate Violated. I am forced to admit, however, that while they definitely have an agenda, their treatment is, for the most part, even-handed. Many of the facts are indisputable. There were predators on campus, including some on the football team. Many women did not feel comfortable working with campus judicial affairs because of what they perceived as a judgmental culture. Coaches, judicial affairs employees, counselors, and other university employees responded inadequately and, in some cases, offensively, to reports of rape.
Lavigne and Schlabach, as well as other journalists, exposed deep cultural and administrative problems that had persisted for a long time. Thankfully, the light has been a disinfectant and things have been cleaned up and are in the process of being reassessed and restructured. Interim president Dr. Garland may have been a little over exuberant when he claimed that Baylor would now be "the safest place on the planet," but I have not doubt that Baylor is becoming "a model for the rest of the country, of how to address these issues," as he said.
Given their mission--exposing rape at Baylor--it was unsurprising that Lavigne and Schlabach leaned hard toward believing every word any victim said and casting doubts on anyone associated with Baylor. When there are two sides to any testimony or recollection of an event or conversation, the benefit of the doubt goes to the accuser. The other side might be mentioned, but parenthetically or as an after thought. In my limited knowledge of the events, I know that in many cases it's not as cut-and-dried as they imply.
I like the fact that they include in the subtitle "Amid College Football's Sexual Assault Crisis." While the bulk of the book is focused on Baylor, they briefly place Baylor in the larger picture. They write, "In fairness, Baylor wasn't alone when it came to college football's sexual assault crisis." But then, sort of contradicting themselves, they assert that "the depth of its problems and sheer number of cases--and victims--set it apart from other schools" while also claiming that "if there were indeed seventeen incidents over five years, then Baylor's numbers are actually close to other college athletic programs recently studied." I know "it happens everywhere" is a weak defense, and I don't want to diminish what was clearly a series of terrible events at Baylor. But I still believe that if other schools were put under the microscope the way Baylor has been over the last couple of years, many of them would look as bad or worse.
What I hated most about the book, as an alumnus and now especially as a parent, was the characterization of student life. Sure, there are parties, and kids drink and have sex. To read their account, you might think that every weekend in Waco, there are house parties where people engage in gang bangs, and that every frat party has frat boys dropping drugs in girls' drinks so they can have sex with them. Interviewees have testified that such things happen, but I object to the impression given that these activities are widespread. I hope readers will recognize the limited scope of the book, and realize that much of Baylor's culture, even among student athletes, is wholesome, Christ-centered, and life-giving.
As much as I hated reading Violated, and as sick as these allegations against my alma mater make me, I have to acknowledge that Lavigne and Schlabach have done a service by bringing light to these events. They pull no punches and spare few details. I felt like I needed to take a hot shower after reading some of their accounts. I think Baylor has taken great strides in student safety and engendering a culture of respect, and I continue to pray that Baylor will exemplify the ideals upon which it was founded for the sake of my son and other students, now and in the future.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!
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