Baylor President and Chancellor Kenneth Starr, a key player in the impeachment of Bill Clinton almost two decades ago, has been fired by the school’s Board of Regents.
The regents board fired the six-year president in the wake of a sexual assault scandal involving Baylor University’s football team.
Starr was the Whitewater independent counsel whose investigation of Bill Clinton in the 1990s led to his impeachment.
In 1994, Starr took over the investigation of the Clintons’ involvement in the Whitewater real estate investments and the suicide of White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster. Starr’s investigation included a lawsuit filed against Clinton by accuser Paul Jones and Monica Lewinsky, with whom he had an affair.
Presumed Republican nominee Donald Trump has used the Clinton scandals of the 1990s — including Whitewater and Foster’s suicide — in recent political attacks against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. But in remarks reported by the New York Times on Tuesday, Starr reportedly praised Clinton as “the most gifted politician of the baby boomer generation.”
HornsDigest.com first reported Starr’s Tuesday firing. Reagan Ramsower, Baylor’s senior vice president of operations and chief financial officer, is expected to be named the school’s interim president until a national search can be conducted.
It is unclear if Starr will remain at the school in a different position or be simply given a settlement and terminated. Once source reportedly said Starr will not leave his post quietly, however.
Starr is being blamed for the scandal over how Baylor handled the school’s failure to act on reports that at lest six female students filed charges claiming they were raped and/or sexually assaulted by university football players from 2009 to 2016.
Head coach Art Briles is not expected to be punished.
Two former football players, Tevin Elliott and Sam Ukwuachu, have been convicted of rape. Elliott is currently serving a 20-year sentence after his conviction in 2014.
The regents board recently hired a law firm to review the school’s handling of all rape and sexual assault allegations by female students.
