Baylor University.
When I first met Ken Starr in 2005, I expected a dour — almost puritanical — partisan. After all, he was originally charged with investigating the Clintons’ involvement in the Whitewater land transactions but expanded his investigation into a number of side issues, not the least of which involved Monica Lewinsky. Much to my surprise, however, Judge Starr turned out to be entirely different than expected. Sitting in his office at Pepperdine School of Law, Starr exuded a warm and gentle demeanor that was entirely different from the media caricature by which he had become known.
Now, five years later, Starr has been named the 14th president of Baylor University — an institution that has, itself, navigated some tumultuous times under the glare of the media spotlight. Judge Starr is the right — albeit surprising — choice at this moment in the university’s history.
Baylor, which was founded in 1845 and has been often called the “crown jewel” of Texas Baptists, embarked in the 1990s on a bold effort to raise its profile academically while deepening its religious commitment as a Baptist university. Some Baylor constituents were excited by both ventures; others preferred only one. And a few wanted Baylor to remain unchanged. Divisions grew among the Baylor family, and over the last decade, four different individuals have occupied the president’s office in Pat Neff Hall, two as president and two on an interim basis.
I was as surprised as anyone with Starr’s appointment. Having graduated from the university 15 years ago, I never thought Baylor would hire someone so outside the Baptist orbit as Judge Starr (who is not Baptist, although he plans to join a Baptist church in Waco). But having interviewed him extensively about his spiritual life several years ago — long before he was considered for a post like the Baylor presidency — I think his brand of evangelical Christianity will serve him well at the university. Starr embodies a cosmopolitan Christianity, one that is confident but not pushy, thoughtful yet still heartfelt.
D. Michael Lindsay is a Rice University sociologist whose work focuses on leadership and culture. He is also a Rice scholar at the Baker Institute . Lindsay, whose work has been published widely in leading scholarly journals, is the author of the Pulitzer-nominated book, “Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite,” which was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the “Best Books of 2007.”