Just when you thought your jaw couldn't drop any farther, another terribly concerning piece is released from the Baylor sexual assault scandal.
David Garland was named interim president of Baylor University following the abrupt removal of then-president Ken Starr for Starr's role in the scandal that resulted in the resignations or dismissals of many individuals. Though Garland was often commended for his leadership during the tumultuous times, it turns out he had no idea why Starr was replaced or why Baylor was being investigated.
And the most mind-numbing part? He didn't care to know or make any effort to know, according to a Waco attorney. Jimm Dunnam, who filed a lawsuit for 10 alleged victims, described Garland's comments from a deposition last month.
“It was troubling to me that (Garland) was willfully ignorant,” said Jim Dunnam during an interview on Thursday. "Not only did he not know, he didn’t care to know, made no effort to know, didn’t want to know. That’s disturbing, particularly when you have a university that claims it takes these matters seriously."
Dunnam also said Garland's only knowledge of the situation came from media reports and Starr's book Bear Country: The Baylor Story. Baylor responded to the deposition with a statement, which attributed the ignorance to Garland — who previously served in a variety of roles at the school — being in Colorado during the time of leadership changes.
“Dr. Garland was not in the interim president role during the Pepper Hamilton investigation, nor was he on campus as he was dealing with the illness and loss of his beloved wife,” the statement read. “Dr. Garland was still in Colorado in May 2016 when the Board of Regents made decisions regarding changes in university leadership, at which time he was subsequently asked to return to Baylor and serve as interim president.”
The Houston Chronicle also reported that Garland didn't report a single on-campus sexual assault during his earlier time as interim president from 2008-10. He also didn't know the proper process for a student to report a sexual assault, nor did the school even have a Title IX office.
