Baylor University Sexual Assault Scandal Mega Thread

Have the 3 incidents been confirmed to involve the football program?

 

I don't know, it's impossible to keep track at this point, I'm just having fun. Let me live, bro.

 

The issue with not releasing the report for Baylor is that no one actually gets their day in court. All you get is lawsuits that'll get settled out of court many years later through big donor contributions and it's just lawyers profiting off of a scandal.

Either validate everything and fire everyone or counter back if some of what's being hurled your way isn't true. By hunkering down, Baylor can be confused of hiding Jimmy Hoffa and it would stick.

 

Releasing the report, even if there is one, wouldn't change any of this.

 

It's my understanding there is no written report.

 

You can never change what's already happened. The problem with silence is that no progress ever gets made. It's not just Baylor, this kind of crisis management applies to every major institution of learning, government, business, etc where saying nothing is the norm.

Everything happens behind closed doors and you just have to trust that people get it right.

 

Oh meant that it wouldn't change getting folks getting their day in court, lawsuits, settlements, etc.

But yes completely agree with the rest.

 

Since you're a smart law-talkin guy, does this make any sense?

The reputation of the school is very important,” Baylor Line Foundation President Tom Nesbitt, an Austin lawyer, told the American-Statesman. “But I care less about PR strategy and more about making sure that Baylor is telling the truth and is assuring the alumni of what the facts are and letting the students, faculty and alumni decide for themselves if the right things have been done.”

Have the right people been held accountable?

“That’s a good question. And it’s an important thing for Baylor alumni to be comfortable that all of the people were treated fairly, or were they being scapegoated?” Nesbitt said. “But I’ve heard from no one that this is a crusade to save Art Briles or Ken Starr. We just want to know what the facts are. I do commend the board for holding the university responsible because the report describes a culture and an obsession with secrecy and that image came first and the search for truth came second.”

The foundation is calling upon the regents to release the full Pepper Hamilton report so that Baylor students, faculty, alumni and even prospective students can judge for themselves the actions that have been taken. At what point do admissions begin to take a hit? A decrease in enrollment carries a big financial impact, though it hasn’t happened yet. The Baylor admissions department says the number of its freshman applicants actually increased this year, from 32,112 to 34,647. But it might be too soon to gauge the effect of the scandal.

Because the independent report by Pepper Hamilton, a Philadelphia law firm, was delivered to the regents in what Starr said was a 30-hour verbal briefing, Nesbitt doesn’t know whether to praise or condemn the regents for their decisions, which led to the firing of Briles and the eventual demotions and resignations of Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw.

He does say of all those he has spoken to, Baylor alumni are “uniformly in favor” of releasing any and all information the school legally can.

“We’re calling now for the release of whatever information can be lawfully released,” Nesbitt said. “We want it released because the Baylor family deserves to know if the right people are being held accountable and the right things are being done to correct this crisis. Full disclosure is essential to protect the Baylor people who are blameless for some of these things.”

Nesbitt is skeptical about claims that there is no written report. That, he says as a lawyer, is not standard procedure.

“A law firm does not conduct an eight-month investigation and give a briefing without written summaries and analysis,” he said. “It may be fair to say if Pepper Hamilton is going to reduce its report into a form acceptable for public disclosure, they might need more time. It’s not simple enough to just redact names. The Board of Regents understandably has to be concerned about revealing victims. There are legitimate concerns that shouldn’t be ignored. If that’s the issue that they’re working on a report that does not violate confidentiality, if they said that, I think they’d be applauded by Baylor alumni.”

It’s a school administration that hasn’t received much applause of late, and for now, Nesbitt can’t say whether the firings or demotions were justified.

“We just don’t know,” he said. “We don’t know what the facts are. I think ultimately the Baylor Board of Regents should do the right thing. I’m confident they are well-intentioned people. The Baylor Line Foundation has long called for more transparency at Baylor. Our calls and independent voice got us into a legal dispute with this very board. It didn’t want us to speak independently.”

However, the two sides reached an agreement in March that includes a provision whereby three full-voting members of the 39-person Board of Regents will be elected by the alumni for the first time. Baylor had sought to take control of the group’s assets and terminate its right to publish The Baylor Line magazine.

“That agreement honors our independent voice,” Nesbitt said. “They are our guys.”

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/spo...-needs-to-provide-an-open-honest-accou/nrdsT/

 

If they were under instruction not to make a written summary, I guess? There are lots of times I advise clients not to put certain things in writing. Having said that, the public interest here in the safety of these kids should be paramount.

When I heard there wasn't a written report, I thought that was weird too, Buck. It's hard to believe.

 

BU telling PH not to prepare a written report (if true) is probably the smartest thing they've done so far. A calculated move which, if anything, buys them quite a bit of time if they ever get enough pressure to release some type of detailed report.

While an oral briefing is probably not the standard, no firm would deny the request given how much time and money was involved.

 

@JasonKingBR: Baylor has reached a contract settlement with former football coach Art Briles, sources tell B/R. Details unclear.

 

I think I did 5-10 internal investigations when I was practicing and very rarely did we prepare a written report, maybe not even once, almost entirely to keep anything from being discoverable

There certainly was a ton of stuff in writing, however.

 

This.

We NEVER do a report in circumstances such as these.

 

I wonder what amount Briles settled at

 

Read upwards of 25M.

 

I think we offered 8MM as a starting point. I can't see them settling this high. My guess is 20ish

 

http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/col...paper-ad-criticize-former-president-ken-starr

 

Buyout is 15 M per 247