| Kenneth Starr named Baylor president |
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| By Marv Knox | ||
| Monday, February 15, 2010 | ||
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WACO, Texas (ABP) -- Former Whitewater special prosecutor and current Pepperdine University Law School Dean Kenneth Starr has been named the 14th president of Baylor University.
Baylor's board of regents elected Starr unanimously on Feb. 12, upon the unanimous recommendation of both a 14-member search committee and a 10-member advisory committee for the presidential search, according to a Baylor news release. He will be formally introduced to the campus community at 3 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 16. The world’s largest Baptist institution of higher learning will be led by the man whose investigation of a 1980s Arkansas real-estate deal gone bad nearly brought down the nation’s last Baptist president in 1998, with Congress’ failed attempt to remove President Bill Clinton from office. Starr will succeed John Lilley, who was fired for failing to “bring the Baylor family together” in July 2008. Lilley’s two-year tenure followed the 10-year presidency of Robert Sloan, which was marked by discord over the university’s future, specifically Baylor 2012, a decade-long strategy plan. David Garland, dean of Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, has been interim president since August 2008. Starr, a Texas native with a background in the Churches of Christ, has been dean of Pepperdine’s law school in Malibu, Calif., since 2004. He is a former federal judge and solicitor general of the United States, and he remains an attorney with the prominent Washington-based law firm Kirkland & Ellis. He is a longtime member of McLean Bible Church in McLean, Va., a conservative, non-denominational evangelical congregation in the Washington suburbs. From 1994 to 1999, he was independent counsel for five investigations, including the death of White House counsel Vince Foster, the Whitewater real-estate dealings of Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. His investigation resulted in the Starr Report, which asserted Clinton lied about his affair with Lewinsky in a sworn deposition. That allegation led to Clinton’s impeachment. Starr was born in Vernon, Texas, in 1946 and raised in San Antonio. His father was a Churches of Christ minister, and Pepperdine is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. He is a graduate of George Washington University, Brown University and Duke University Law School. Early in his career, Starr clerked for Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge David Dyer and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger. He is the author of more than 25 publications, including First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life.According to the Waco Tribune-Herald, Starr has said he will join a Baptist church upon moving to Waco. -30- This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it is editor of the Baptist Standard. ABP Managing Editor This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it contributed to this story.
                Comments (18)
 Maybe Starr could investigate Baylor
written by christa, February 15, 2010
Gee whiz . . . maybe Ken Starr could turn his considerable talents to investigating Baylor itself. It would be a step forward if Baylor could finally come clean with the story of how and why its officials "took no action" on a report of sexual assault by ministerial student Matt Baker. ("There is no question that the university...did type up a report but they took no action." Texas Monthly magazine, March 2008) Matt Baker went on to become a pastor who hopped his way through a heap of churches and organizations affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and who accrued a whole lot more sexual abuse reports along the way (with no one stopping him) and who was recently convicted of murder.
...
written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , February 15, 2010
You've got to be kidding! In my youth it was my dream to attend Baylor, but it was not to be. I tell people I "settled" for Ouachita. I will say that no more. Now, I'm glad to be an OBU grad and not a Baylor alum. Are they so desperate as to stoop to such an embarrassing appointment? During the Clinton fiasco of the late 90s, there were many bumper stickers in Arkansas that read "STARR GO HOME!" He is a Pharisee of the worst order. Baylor really should be embarrassed.
He Spends Much Money on Nothing!
written by Gene, February 15, 2010
Ken Starr was a single-minded monster in investigating Bill Clinton. If he had had integrity and any knowledge of the Constitution, he would have known it was a character assasination rather than a constitutional matter, but he didn't! He was the pawn of Conservative Republicanism at its worst.
Now, how much taxpayer money was wasted on this along with total distraction from the normal duties of the President? I fail to see this as a reward for Baylor, but Starr has the "newsey name." It just doesn't go with "integrity" in my mind. Excellent and shocking appointment
written by Xenophon, February 15, 2010
I am delighted with the selection of Kenneth Starr to be the next Baylor president. He is a fellow believer and seems sound theologically, is very intelligent and accomplished (in fact, the elder President Bush should have appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court instead of David Souter), and has recent experience in administration at a major American university. What else could we possibly ask for?
What else?
written by Norman, February 15, 2010
What else could Baylor and Texas Baptists ask for? How about a BAPTIST without baggage?
...
written by jbird, February 15, 2010
From faraway KY it appears to me that the Regents have gone with a 'name' candidate who can schmooze comfortably with the Big Donors in Texas and elsewhere. After all, fund raising is the name of the presidential game. His appointment appears to end any hope that Baylor can be, as it once was, a lighthouse for Progressive Baptist ideas. But I'm no insider and could certainly be incorrect . . .
...
written by burtonrh, February 15, 2010
Honestly, I thought this was an April fool joke, except that it is still February.
what else?
written by Xenophon, February 15, 2010
Norman, it is much more important that someone is a Bible-believing, born-again Christian than simply being a nominal Christian or being a member of a Baptist church who rejects or doubts the divine inspiration of the Bible.
Ken Starr's so-called baggage is due to the smear tactics of the supporters of our former criminal and adulterous president who were trying to change the subject during the investigation that a special three-judge panel authorized. ...
written by jbird, February 15, 2010
Mr. X, now how do you really feel about fellow Baptist William Jefferson Clinton? :-) Relax, everybody, it's all about fund raising! I'd say he'll bring in $$ by the boatload, faculty salaries will rise, and everyone will be satisfied. From KY, it still looks like a sad day for the progressive Baptist world in Texas and elsewhere.
just the facts, jbird
written by Xenophon, February 15, 2010
Jbird, I am just reporting the facts as I know them. As for showing solidarity with someone just because they belong to a Baptist church, I am just do not think along those lines. In religious matters, I have more patience with an atheist than I do with someone who claims to be Christian but rejects miracles, the divinity of Christ, the Genesis account of Creation, etc. I am also not tied to denomination even with people with whom I agree theologically. I see non-Baptist Evangelicals closer to my religious views than I do liberal Baptists. On politics, I am closer to President Clinton's (middle) namesake, Thomas Jefferson, who was probably a unitarian of some sort. Naturally, I disagreed with Jefferson's religious views even as I embrace his political and social vision.
As I have said previously, the very people I disagree with sharply on religious views might very well be the same people whom I feel the most comfortable with as social companions. I actually like Bill Clinton personally, but I am glad to see him out of the White House because of the bad example he set for the greater culture as well as his left of center politics. I do think you are right about fund-raising being important for a university president. But I do hope that Ken Starr will permit Baylor to return to its traditional, truly Christian roots, and call off the thought police that tried to purge Baylor of Evangelicals. ...
written by jbird, February 15, 2010
We will need to disagree on Bill Clinton. I think his compassion for the 'down and out' trumped his 'fooling around'--and still does. Last paragraph very well said, Mr. X--But do you think a new Ken Starr 'Thought Police' would try to purge Baylor of Progressives? If one eliminates everyone from the science area who doesn't hold to a literal reading of Genesis 1 and 2, Baylor will have few scientists left?
reply to jbird
written by Xenophon, February 15, 2010
I agree that those at Baylor who work from a evolutionary paradigm should be allowed to continue their research. Over time, I also have no problem with any department taking on a certain orientation that favors new hires of that orientation. But I do not believe that it is proper for the university administration or department chairman to monitor personal speeches, writings, and websites of faculty and then attempting to restrict their discussing alternative views.
...
written by varmint, February 15, 2010
The Baylor regents should be ashamed of themselves for choosing a life long Campbellite to lead a Baptist university.
Baylor has (had?) a spiritual purpose. Baylor needed a pastor, not a partisan fundraiser. ...
written by KT2005, February 16, 2010
If memory serves me correctly, John Lilley was not a Baptist when he was hired as president of Baylor.
Good For Baylor!
written by tenor1, February 16, 2010
--For selecting an honorable, Christian man who followed the laws and our Constitution, even when it led to the office of the president and her husband;
--For recognizing the integrity of Starr to do his job over the most vicious, demonizing attacks the far left could muster in order to distract from the real issues, that of a rapist and sexual preditor occupying the Oval Office; --For putting a face on now refined tactic of the far left to use politics of personal destruction with lies, inuendo, any means to accomplish their ends. ... written by Dr. James Willingham, February 18, 2010
"Readily, cheerfully, enthusiastically." In view of the cushy job, presitigious position, and plentiful perks while being from a heretical background, while the poor jerks of all persuasions go wanting and, perhaps, in short order, on the verge of disaster in worst down turns coming, we reckon so. Poetic justice for all us poor blokes who never learned how to handle our differences in a way that would honor our Lord.
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This is *one* way to frame a very complex conflict (and a potentially misleading one!). I hope later iterations of this breaking story will try to find a more nuanced storyline. The difficulty is that "traditional Baptist heritage" and "evangelical" are deeply-contested terms.