Did Baylor’s athletic director ask if current football players could have immunity in Title IX investigations?
According to former Baylor Title IX coordinator Patty Crawford, former Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw posed the question in a February meeting. Crawford told “Outside the Lines” she was called to a meeting and the question was asked when she brought up the need to investigate Title IX allegations vs. football players. From ESPN’s “Outside the Lines”:
“The athletic director asked if I could give immunity to the football players that still were at the university,” Crawford said. “I looked around the room and everyone had their heads down. I said, ‘No, I don’t know [if] they were an accomplice. I don’t know if they were part of this culture.”
Crawford said she refused to give the Baylor players immunity, and told McCaw and the others that she didn’t even have a Title IX policy in place since she had only started her job a few months earlier.
Others in the meeting told “60 Minutes Sports” that Crawford was asked if she had the power to grant immunity to players who knew about allegations (no she doesn’t), rather than a direct request for immunity.
McCaw was sanctioned after the Pepper Hamilton independent investigation into the school’s handling of sexual assault accusations and resigned shortly after a summary of the investigation’s findings were released.
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Crawford said in an interview with “60 Minutes Sports” on Tuesday that a Baylor vice president said some women making sexual assault accusations were mentally ill. Ever since her resignation in early October, Crawford has gone public with her concerns about the way Baylor treated sexual assault allegations and Title IX cases.
She did so after refusing to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Baylor discredited her comments since her resignation in a statement Monday evening and said she was unfit to be the school’s Title IX coordinator. Crawford has said Baylor officials hindered her ability to do her job effectively.
“Patty Crawford’s motives for misstating the facts are patently evident to her colleagues at Baylor. Although they worked tirelessly during her tenure at the university to help her succeed, Crawford lacked the administrative skills to manage the Title IX office. Three Title IX investigators each quit within a year of being hired after reporting problems with her management style. Concerned about this high rate of turnover, the Baylor HR Department worked with Crawford on a ‘development plan to better manage the influx of University resources and Title IX personnel. When that didn’t work, Crawford began seeking employment elsewhere and sought to blame Baylor for her own shortcomings.”
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
