Has Baylor University really changed? It’s too soon to know.

But I believe Baylor President Linda Livingstone is telling us the truth about the state of the school, and I believe in her ability to get my alma mater straightened out in the aftermath of its sexual assault tragedies.

If only I had as much confidence in certain factions within Baylor’s board and former regents who still wield influence.

Eighteen months have passed since Livingstone took on what is among the toughest rebuilding programs in academia. Multiple investigations and lawsuits drag on. Wounds are still raw. Warring factions too often get the spotlight. Big personalities — among them Livingstone’s board bosses — cause trouble.

Amid all the tumult, Livingstone has a school to run, academics to improve and funds to raise. And most important is making sure Baylor is now a safe campus for all of its students.

Faced with such challenges, many of us would run as fast as we could in the opposite direction. But not Livingstone, who told me she likes to solve big problems and wants to help a school that she believes, at its core, is a good place.

Since her hiring, I've followed Livingstone's words and actions and talked to outside experts about her progress. My first interview with her, while she was in Dallas this week, reinforced my belief that she is a leader who is accountable, forthright and humble.

With a history of leading under difficult circumstances at other schools, she seems genuine about moving Baylor forward without losing sight of its recent sordid history.

She downplays the significance of being Baylor’s first female president but recognizes the gravity of leading in the aftermath of the school’s mishandling of sexual assault cases.

Livingstone took an important step when she met individually with some of the victims, who felt the university’s old leadership had ignored them.

“It was painful to hear their stories and to hear the pain in their experience,” Livingstone said. “It was important to hear their stories to understand [and] to learn everything possible to keep other women and men on our campus from having those experiences going forward.”

Baylor President Linda Livingstone, on the job for 18 months, sat down Tuesday in Dallas for an interview. (Rex C. Curry / Special Contributor)

Most everything Livingstone has done at Baylor starts with figuring out how she can build trust. “That happens only if we do what we say we are going to do.”

She’s not expecting everyone to jump on board immediately — and she’s OK with that. It’s about “trying to do the right thing every single day, day in and day out, over a long period of time.”

While Livingstone avoids bashing the previous Baylor regime, she doesn’t shy away from contrasting current practices and policies with the past. For example, the overhaul of the university’s Title IX office and the process that each report now kicks off marks “a dramatic change in how we were dealing with the sexual assault allegations,” she said. “And that’s changed the culture on our campus around those issues.”

Livingstone continues to deal daily with the past, but she said the school’s new academic strategic plan — and a $1.1 billion fundraising campaign to support it — offer hope of a new day at Baylor.

Her healthy perspective on college athletics is most refreshing to those of us who have watched Baylor seem to sell its soul for sports success. As the only president among the Big 12 schools to have been a Division I student-athlete, she understands these programs but won’t do just anything to succeed.

“Success can certainly lead to a level of arrogance — in any field you happen to be in,” she said. “And I think that it’s just critically important that you guard against that when you start to be successful, particularly if you haven’t been for some time.”

Last month, the Big 12 cleared Baylor after a 21-month review of its sexual assault safeguards while also levying a $2 million fine for past transgressions. Livingstone said the Big 12's careful review of the 105 recommended changes allowed conference members and officials to get to know many Baylor people well — from people in the Title IX office to regents.

“I think it helped them understand who we are now and how we are different from what we were and what our deep commitment is to doing the right things going forward," she said.

And what about the still-loud alums who refuse to let go of their furor toward the regents or their loyalty to former football coach Art Briles?

“They are still struggling with what happened,” Livingstone said, “especially in cases where it impacted people they knew well and were close to. You understand why people have those deep feelings and how it’s very difficult sometimes to move beyond that.”

She’s matter-of-fact that she can’t stop that noise, and what matters most to her is that Baylor now has a football program that “aligns very closely with our values as an institution.”

With the NCAA investigation and several lawsuits ongoing, more troubling details likely will emerge. Here’s what I continue to watch for in a story that — deservedly — will haunt Baylor for some time: Are the revelations from the past or from the present? And how does Baylor handle future sexual assaults?

Livingstone can’t do that all on her own. Asked if she is confident that the people around her tell her the truth, Livingstone offered up plenty of reasonable examples that they are. Most of her leadership team is new. And she has a strong partnership with retired Baylor Scott & White CEO Joel Allison, who chairs Baylor’s board of regents.

That board has undergone massive changes designed to keep members in their own lane — rather than meddling where they don’t belong. But for too long, trustees had a giant chip on their shoulder in regard to Baylor’s stature, whether in athletics or academics. And some were bewitched by the allure of sports success.

That’s where Baylor lost its way — and female students paid the price.

Since then, the regents made a very wise choice in selecting Livingstone to lead the school forward. Only time will tell whether they truly allow her to do just that.