The women’s basketball coach at Baylor University used a professional achievement as an opportunity to defend the university’s damaged reputation on sexual assault and to criticize those who see the university as a place that covered up sexual assaults by male athletes against female students.
Kim Mulkey had just earned her 500th career win Saturday night, and in a speech after the game, she told the crowd, “If somebody is around you and they ever say, ‘I will never send my daughter to Baylor,’ you knock them right in the face.” The stands erupted with cheers.
“It’s the damn best school in America,” Mulkey said.
Later, at the postgame press conference, Mulkey clarified her point -- but didn’t back down from it.
“I’m just tired of hearing it,” Mulkey said, referring to the talk about Baylor being an unsafe college for women after high numbers of sexual assault complaints were uncovered in recent years. “It’s over. It’s done. … The problems we have at Baylor are no different than the problems at any other school in America. Period. Move on,” she added.
More than 30 Baylor football players were accused of sexually assaulting at least 50 people in the last three years. In a number of cases, Baylor has been accused of protecting the athletes at the expense of the women's rights.
Inside Higher Ed reached out to officials at Baylor University, who did not respond to requests for comment.
Read the original article on Inside Higher Ed. Copyright 2017. Follow Inside Higher Ed on Twitter.
