Schools Accelerate Toward "the Truth" about Assaults

Baylor University will get its first female president on June 1, signaling what many hope will be the beginning of the Baptist university's return to grace after a steady trickle of scandals involving sexual assaults and cover-ups. In an interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, Linda A. Livingstone cited greater transparency, campus-wide training, new reporting rules, better counseling services, deeper investigations and "a lot of education" among strategies for creating cultural changes that will "reduce the incidences of sexual-assault violence with the goal of eliminating them."

The same day as the Chronicle interview appeared, news broke of an extensive report documenting 40 years of sexual abuse involving students, by at least 13 former faculty and staff members, at St. Paul's School, the latest independent school to release such investigations to the public. "Survivors need to know the truth — not excuses why the truth can't be told," said Eric MacLeish, a lawyer representing many former students.

The Chronicle of Higher Education (05/22/17)

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