Baylor University Football: Sexual
Assault Scandal (2016)
*Note: For the purpose of
this exercise, the case study will examine the events leading up to May
26, 2016. Any details reported after that date will not be considered in this
blog.
Case Overview
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| The 2014 Baylor Bears celebrating their Big 12 Conference Championship victory |
Baylor University is a private
Baptist institution in Waco, Texas that has an undergraduate enrollment of
14,189 students. The Bears participate in 19 intercollegiate sports at the NCAA
Division 1 level as a member of the Big 12 Conference. Their most prominent athletic
program is their football team, which had an impressive 40-11 record from 2012-2015.
During this time span the Bears were consistently ranked in the top 25 of
college football’s highest division. They won two Big 12 Conference
Championships, played in both the Fiesta and Cotton Bowl’s, and boasted a
Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Robert Griffin III.
However, the football
program’s success was put on the back burner when the University announced that
then head football coach, Art Briles, and University President, Ken Starr, were relieved
from duty on May 26, 2016. Their dismissal came after the release of a nearly 9
month long external review conducted by Philadelphia based lawyer Pepper
Hamilton. The report found evidence that the
University neglected to follow
Title IX procedure in relation to several sexual assault cases filed against
Baylor football players. The incidences in question included three prominent players:
Tevin Elliot, Sam Ukwuachu, and Shawn Oakman. Elliot was convicted in 2013 and
sentenced to 20 years in prison for two separate sexual assaults committed against
Baylor students in 2012. Ukwuachu was indicted on two counts of sexual assault
in 2014. He served 180 days in a county jail and has 10 years of felony
probation. Oakman was indicted by a grand jury on charges of second-degree
felony sexual assault in 2016 and has yet to be convicted on the charges.
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| Left: Ken Starr / Right: Art Briles |
Despite the egregious
acts committed by these three players, the real ethical issue at hand involves
the coaches and administrators who failed to comply with NCAA rules and
ultimately cultivated an environment that encouraged athlete misconduct. In
particular, the University neglected to comply with the Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and the Violence Against Women
Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA). Furthermore, Baylor failed “within both the
football program
and Athletics Department leadership, including a failure to
identify and respond to a pattern of sexual violence by a football player, to
take action in response to reports of a sexual assault by multiple football
players, and to take action in response to a report of dating violence.” Essentially,
the athletic department failed to institute NCAA mandated procedures when
handling sexual assault allegations against its student-athletes. Members of
the football staff flat out allowed these players to remain part of their
program despite being aware of their murky legal status. Not to mention the fact that both
Ukwuachu and Oakman were transfer students recruited to play at Baylor after
having legal trouble at their previous colleges.
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| The popular Title IX logo that appears on college campuses across the country |
Stakeholders
There are several notable
stakeholders in this particular case, listed in order from the largest group to
single individuals. The football community as a whole was impacted by this
case, because its current reputation of being rough individuals was further perpetuated by
this issue. The Waco, Texas, community can
be considered a stakeholder of this
case, because the safety of their citizens is now in question. Baylor
University including its students, staff, and alumni were affected by this case,
because of their inherent proximity to the issue. The football team, both
players and staff, are stakeholders of this case, because they are directly
involved with the problem. Specifically, head coach Art Briles and several members
of his staff lost their jobs and had their reputation obliterated by this
incident. Former University president Ken Starr, athletic director Ian McCaw,
and several other Baylor staff members also lost their jobs, because of this problem.
Last, but certainly not least, the women who were victims of these crimes had
to suffer with little support from the University.
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| Current and former students at a rally to protest sexual assault on the Baylor University campus |
Individualism
Individualism is an
ethical theory primarily focused on Friedman’s Economic Theory. Individualists
seek to make ethical decisions based on how they impact the finances and public
opinion of the company. In this particular case the company in question is
Baylor University and it is without
a doubt that the University was negatively
affected both financially and in the court of public opinion. According to a
financial analysis commissioned by Bears for Leadership Reform, a group of notable
donors, the scandal will cost the school at least $223 million. These costs
include legal fees, public relations costs, fines and sanctions, settlements
with employees, and other costs associated with the scandal. Such a significant
loss outweighs the revenue generated by the theoretical extra success brought
to the team by improperly disciplining its players and allowing them to remain
on the football roster. An individualist would recognize how these decisions negatively
impacted the schools profit margin and would consequently rule the actions of
the coaches and administrators as unethical.
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| A well-circulated advertisement that appeared on several social media platforms |
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism seeks to
make decisions based on how the outcome will affect the happiness of the
majority of the stakeholders involved. For this case, one must consider that
during the years where
the misconduct was taking place that the success of the
football program made basically every stakeholder happy. What must be evaluated
is if that short-lived happiness outweighs the long term sorrow that comes with
a highly publicized national scandal of this caliber. For the majority of the
stakeholders it does not. Therefore, a utilitarian would claim that although there
was a brief period of happiness for all those involved, the decisions made
by the administrators and football staff members in question actually brought
an immense amount of long term shame to the university. Therefore, their
actions would be deemed unethical according to a utilitarian.
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| A happy group of Baylor fans cheering on the Bears football team |
Kantianism
Kantianism is probably
the most complicated of the four ethical theories discussed in this blog post.
This school of thought is all about rationality and operating with goodwill. To
evaluate decisions from a Kantian perspective, ethical theorists use the formula
of humanity to assess decisions. This
formula examines the relationship between
the means and end result of one’s decision making process. In this particular
case the administrators and football staff members knowingly took advantage of
a flawed system at the expense of several young women who were assaulted by football
players, all to win football games. The Kantian perspective would recognize that
this is irrational, because clearly written NCAA rules were broken and individual
rights were not respected. Subsequently, a Kantian would consider this case to be
unethical.
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| A visual representation of the NCAA rule book, containing the bylaws ignored by Baylor administrators and football staff members |
Virtue Theory
Virtue Theory is in large
part based on Aristotle’s Ethics. A virtue theorist considers the function and
circumstances involved with a specific decision. Moreover, a virtue theorist
looks at the four primary virtues when evaluating a decision. These four
virtues are courage, honesty, temperance, and justice.
In this particular case
the administrators and coaches in question certainly took a risk, but they did
so on the wrong end of the courage-spectrum. They failed to stand for what was
right and opted for the cowardice route that ultimately lead to their occupational
demise. They obviously were not practicing honesty, as they intentionally misreported
facts to their superiors. Their temperance was flawed, because they created a culture that failed to live up to the standards declared reasonable by the NCAA. Perhaps
least virtuous of all, they did not comply whatsoever with the justice virtue.
Their actions encouraged corner-cutting and discouraged hard work, while
operating in a consistent state of unfairness towards the rest of the competition.
It is for these reasons that a virtue theorists would consider this whole case
as unethical.
Justified Ethics Evaluation
As a college football player I understand why Baylor University administrators and football staff members broke the rules. The ultra-competitive environment fostered at the Division 1 level encourages smaller schools, like Baylor, to gain an edge wherever they can. It's the only way they can compete with juggernauts like Alabama, Michigan, and Notre Dame, who have more prominent programs that receive more funding and better resources. However, with the current climate in football at the collegiate and professional level, it's hard to comprehend how decision makers can allow this type of issue to go by the way side. "Sexual assault" and "football player" are appearing more frequently in news headlines across the country. Huge penalties are being levied on the programs and players involved in these types of cases and with that said, it's hard to see how these individuals thought their decisions were justified.
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| An image presented by ESPN's Outside The Lines,quoting Briles in an interview following his termination as head football coach at Baylor University |
Justified Ethics Evaluation
As a college football player I understand why Baylor University administrators and football staff members broke the rules. The ultra-competitive environment fostered at the Division 1 level encourages smaller schools, like Baylor, to gain an edge wherever they can. It's the only way they can compete with juggernauts like Alabama, Michigan, and Notre Dame, who have more prominent programs that receive more funding and better resources. However, with the current climate in football at the collegiate and professional level, it's hard to comprehend how decision makers can allow this type of issue to go by the way side. "Sexual assault" and "football player" are appearing more frequently in news headlines across the country. Huge penalties are being levied on the programs and players involved in these types of cases and with that said, it's hard to see how these individuals thought their decisions were justified.
Works Cited
Braziller,
Zach. "'Horrifying' details of Baylor sexual assault scandal
revealed." 28 October 2016. New York Post.
http://nypost.com/2016/10/28/horrifying-details-of-baylor-sexual-assault-scandal-revealed/.
30 January 2017.
CBS
News. "Baylor sex assault scandal far worse than previously disclosed."
31 October 2016.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/baylor-official-addresses-mishandled-sexual-assault-allegation-against-star-football-player/.
30 January 2017.
Ellis,
Zac. "A timeline of the Baylor sexual assault scandal." 26 May 2016.
Sports Illustrated.
http://www.si.com/college-football/2016/05/26/baylor-art-briles-sexual-assault-ken-starr.
30 January 2017.
Kirk,
Jason. "We finally know more about why Baylor fired Art Briles." 28
October 2016. SB Nation. http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/10/28/13460830/art-briles-fired-baylor-coach-report.
30 January 2017.
Regents, Baylor University Board of. "The
Facts." August 2016. Baylor University: Our
Commitment. Our Response.
http://www.baylor.edu/thefacts/. 3 March 2017.
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