Baylor won’t be punished for sexual abuse scandal

An NCAA panel ruled Wednesday that Baylor University will not be punished for the sexual abuse scandal that involved its football program between 2011 and 2016.

The NCAA announced that its Division 1 Committee on Infractions (COI) “could not conclude that Baylor violated NCAA rules when it failed to report allegations of and address sexual and interpersonal violence committed on its campus.”

The inquiry, which was established in 2018, looked into allegations that the university shielded students on the football team from the school’s disciplinary process and that it did not report accusations of misconduct against them.

“Baylor admitted to moral and ethical failings in its handling of sexual and interpersonal violence on campus but argued those failings, however egregious, did not constitute violations of NCAA legislation. Ultimately, and with tremendous reluctance, this panel agrees,” the NCAA panel wrote in its decision.

“To arrive at a different outcome would require the COI to ignore the rules the Association’s membership has adopted — rules under which the COI is required to adjudicate. Such an outcome would be antithetical to the integrity of the infractions process,” it added.

The decision from the NCAA comes more than five years after Baylor hired a law firm to look into how it handles accusations of sexual assault.

The investigation concluded that the Bears football program at times “affirmatively chose not to report sexual violence” to necessary officials, and that the team made an effort to “divert cases from the student conduct or criminal processes,” according to The New York Times.

That conclusion led to the resignations of the university’s chancellor, Ken Starr, and athletic director, Ian McCaw, and the firing of football coach Art Briles.

“My client Art Briles has been completely exonerated and cleared of all NCAA violations alleged against him,” attorney Scott Tompsett said in a statement, according to KWTX News 10.

“As the NCAA Committee on Infractions explained, the conduct at issue was pervasive and widespread throughout the Baylor campus, and it was condoned or ignored by the highest levels of Baylor’s leadership,” he added. “The NCAA’s decision today clears the way for Mr. Briles to return to coaching college football.”

Statement on behalf of Art Briles in response to the NCAA’s #Baylor Public Infractions Report: pic.twitter.com/vLP2q6oXd2

— Darby Brown (@darbyjobrown) August 11, 2021

The panel, however, did discover other violations the university committed between 2011 and 2016.

The committee said “impermissible” benefits were given to a football player who was not reported for failing to meet an academic performance plan after a previous academic violation, and that the school operated a mainly female student-host program that was not in line with the NCAA’s recruiting rules.

The panel also discovered that a former assistant director of football operations did not fulfill his obligation to cooperate and violated ethical conduct regulations when he did not take part in the investigation.

“The University agrees with the enforcement staff and the Committee on Infractions that violations did occur, and we take full responsibility. Our internal and external legal teams will review the full report and the University will decide on its next steps, if any,” Baylor President Linda Livingstone and Vice President and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades wrote in a letter to the Baylor community.

They added that the school “sincerely regret[s]” actions taken by “a few individuals” that hurt others.

“As part of the NCAA process, the University acknowledged its significant and moral failings related to sexual and interpersonal violence, and we sincerely regret the actions of a few individuals caused harm to so many. We must remember that the prospect of NCAA penalties pales in comparison to the suffering of the survivors of such horrific assaults,” Livingstone and Rhoades wrote.

The school will now face a four-year probation, recruiting restrictions, a vacation of records and a five-year show-cause order that will restrict all athletically related duties for the former assistant director of football operations, according to the NCAA. 

—Updated at 4:46 p.m.