Starr leaves Baylor University faculty post after sex assault scandal

(Reuters) – Kenneth Starr said on Friday he is leaving his law professor post at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, months after being removed as president at the large Christian university for not taking sufficient action against sexual assaults.

“Judge Ken Starr will be leaving his faculty status and tenure at Baylor University’s Law School,” Starr and the school said in a joint statement.

The resignation is effective immediately.

Starr rose to national prominence in the mid-1990s for his exhaustive investigation of sex scandals surrounding then-President Bill Clinton.

He was removed as President of Baylor in May, after an independent report found administrators had mishandled sexual abuse cases involving football players. In June, he resigned as chancellor, but stayed on as law professor.

His law professor job was his remaining position at Baylor, the world’s largest Baptist university.

The investigation found that actions by Baylor administrators directly discouraged students from reporting sexual assaults.

Universities around the country have adopted policies in recent years to prevent sexual assaults on campus and to provide more support for victims, after a number of cases involving light punishment for offenders or stigmatizing of victims stirred national outrage.

(Reporting by Fiona Ortiz in Chicago)