The Brief: Federal spotlight is now on Baylor, sexual assault
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The Big Conversation
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced Wednesday that it’s investigating Baylor University to see if the school violated federal Title IX laws.
The investigation comes after various allegations of sexual assault by fellow students. When former football player Sam Ukwuachu was convicted of raping a student last August, it was revealed that Baylor took little action against Ukwuachu other than suspending him from the football team. In a statement Wednesday, however, Baylor University Interim President David E. Garland said the university will fully cooperate with the review.
As the Tribune’s Matthew Watkins reports, the Department of Education said they were prompted to investigate after receiving a complaint from the former Baylor Title IX coordinator Patty Crawford, who left the school last month. Soon after her departure, Crawford told CBS that Baylor officials were more concerned with "protecting the brand" rather than its students.
The university has been sued in the past by current and former students claiming they were assaulted on or off campus and didn't receive support from the university. To continue the investigation, the Department of Education will likely request documents and other records from the school detailing how it handled these sexual assault cases.
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Quote to Note
"People have been talking about Texas going back to being a Democrat state. We've heard it now for over 15 years, and it's not going to happen. ... I think you've got an outlier poll. Texas is not going to be a Democratic state."
— Former Gov. Rick Perry said in an interview Thursday prior to the presidential debate. A University of Houston poll released Tuesday showed Trump holding a 3-point lead over Clinton in Texas.
Today in TribTalk
How Democratic gains could lead to a more conservative Texas House, by Mark P. Jones, An influx of new Democrats would make the House as a whole more liberal but would simultaneously make the majority Republican delegation more conservative.
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