News & Updates: News Clips

Mark Childers, associate vice president of public safety and security, discusses the implementation of more than 1,000 security cameras on and around the Baylor campus. Childers described this initiative as another example of the Department of Public Safety’s focus on continuous improvement. “(Public safety) is that intense, a 24/7 strong forward lean,” said Childers. “Always assessing and re-assessing what we’re doing. We can never stop and say, ‘We’ve made it.’”

An external review of the Baylor Police Department by Margolis Healy & Associates resulted in the reorganization and enhancement of the Baylor University Police Department, including the hiring of a new police chief.

Baylor’s vice president for facilities and operations, Brian Nicholson, sent an email to students, faculty and staff Wednesday afternoon with information about improvements Baylor’s Department of Public Safety has made since commissioning the review.

I knew that sexual assault was happening at Baylor University. I chose to be a part of the 2020 class anyway.

Column by Megan Garland, a freshman journalism student at Baylor University.

Despite the scandal that rocked its campus and resulted in the departure of President and Chancellor Ken Starr, football coach Art Briles and athletic director Ian McCaw, Baylor this year drew a record high number of freshmen applications. University and guidance counselors attribute the rise to a strong and loyal brand within the state and outreach to potential applicants over the course of their high school years.

The athletics center at Baylor looks the same as it has for the last few years. The lobby is decorated with various trophies, green and gold murals, accolades for the different sports teams on display.

The coach talked with us about his impressions of Waco, the changes he'll make at Baylor, and his passion for ping pong.

Now that Baylor has decided on Temple's Matt Rhule as the coach to rebuild its football program, not to mention its reputation, it'd help if everyone were headed in the same direction.

A regional accreditor has placed Baylor University on warning and the University of Louisville on probation for 12 months. Both sanctions typically require the institutions to correct their deficiencies and report back to the accrediting agency on their actions. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges, one of the nation’s seven regional accrediting agencies, announced its decision on Tuesday at the end of its annual meeting.

Two Baylor University regents said the board is evaluating whether to release more information from a nine-month review of the school’s handling of sexual assault allegations during the past several years. Regents also said Baylor is in “good shape” financially, which faculty and staff leaders repeated.

In an era when egotism and narcissism will more than ever define our nation’s leadership and profile, one can appreciate all the more former Wake Forest University coach Jim Grobe’s thankless gesture of temporarily coaching Baylor University’s football team at a time when some fans stubbornly demanded head football coach Art Briles’ return and regent leadership engaged in escalating battles with alumni, donors and even BU’s assistant coaches.

A presentation in March at a summit for college administrators caught Peggy Fitch’s eye. As Title IX coordinator and vice president for student development at Central College in Iowa, she had noticed a numerical discrepancy between the sexual assaults reported to her office and those that showed up in the institution’s campus-climate and safety data.

Despite Baylor 's impending coaching change and a late-season slump, the school still intends to play in a postseason bowl, athletic director Mack Rhoades said Monday.

Baylor University has reached an undisclosed settlement with two women who reported being gang raped by football players in 2012, ESPN reported. Baylor confirmed that the football players are no long enrolled but didn't provide additional details. A statement from David E. Garland, interim president of Baylor, said, "It breaks my heart that even one student would be sexually assaulted while a part of this university. I offer my sincere apologies, both personally and on behalf of the university, that we did not do more to prevent, respond to or support the care of these young women."

Baylor University alumni groups are continuing to push for more transparency from the board of regents in the wake of the board’s decision to release agendas and minutes starting with its next meeting, scheduled for February.

At the same time, higher education experts say the step to publish agendas and minutes already goes beyond what most private universities do.

Thursday’s editorial [“Baylor regents must do better than simply posting minutes, agendas”] is at odds with the facts — and with news coverage in the Tribune-Herald itself.

The Baylor Board of Regents announced on Monday night that they will be releasing minutes for future meetings, but clarified that this will not include past meetings, causing some frustration among the Baylor community.

The tensions at the heart of the Columbia debate pose quandaries for other colleges. Among those grappling with how to balance transparency and privacy, the University of Kentucky has gone to court to block its student newspaper’s access to information from a sexual-misconduct investigation involving a professor. It has argued that the release of even heavily redacted copies of misconduct complaints would violate federal laws protecting student privacy and would discourage other students from filing them.

With Baylor University at war with itself over the firing of its football coach in the wake of a sexual-assault scandal, this qualifies as good news: The NCAA is not planning to bring the hammer down on Baylor the way it did Penn State.

To those who were selling and buying #CAB shirts at last Saturday’s football game against TCU. To those who believe Art Briles should have never been fired. To those who mourn our football team’s recent descent and claim the allegations surrounding Briles’ coaching, his athletic program and his release are unjust. To those who believe we should bring Briles back: What are you doing? More precisely, what are you thinking?

The Pepper Hamilton law firm that investigated Baylor University’s response to sexual assault complaints presented an oral rather than written report to the board of regents in part because producing a document could have delayed the process about nine months, two Baptist ministers who serve as regents said.

Baylor University regents seem baffled about why so many questions remain regarding the school's sexual assault tragedy. After all, they are quick to remind, the board took unprecedented steps after the Pepper Hamilton investigation into the school's handling of assault complaints. Regents dumped the school's wildly popular football coach, its university president and its athletic director.

While Baylor University regents on Thursday provided some new insight into the university's handling of the sexual assault scandal that has rocked the Waco campus, they remained tight-lipped about many of the details.

Baylor University is now facing a federal investigation, and along with our news partners at The Dallas Morning News, NBC 5 sat down with four members of the school's Board of Regents Thursday to get answers.

Former Baylor University Title IX coordinator Patty Crawford, who claims Baylor set her up to fail in the role, received three salary increases, workspace expansion and a growing Title IX budget — including a $12,000 office-wide, three-day spa retreat funded by the university, a Baylor spokesperson said.

Baylor University on Tuesday launched a website to provide more details about the sexual assault scandal that led to the firings of university president Kenneth Starr and football coach Art Briles and the resignation of athletics director Ian McCaw this summer.

Hundreds of students approached former Baylor University Title IX Coordinator Patty Crawford with complaints of sexual assault in her less than two years in the role, Crawford said in an interview with “60 Minutes Sports” on Showtime on Tuesday night.

Editor's note: Baylor regent Mark Lovvorn has heard from a number of people questioning the appropriateness of the decisions made by the board of regents in recent months. The following is a letter he sent in response to an avid football fan.

Officials shed light on outside investigation into sexual assaults by football players that led to departure of team coach and university president.