Former Clinton investigator Ken Starr has resigned as Baylor University's chancellor. | Getty Kenneth Starr resigns as chancellor of Baylor University

Baylor University Chancellor Ken Starr resigned Wednesday amid controversy surrounding allegations of sexual assault linked to the school’s football team.

Starr, who led investigations into the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky controversies during President Bill Clinton’s administration, called his resignation “a matter of conscience.” He was removed as the university’s president by its board of regents last Thursday.


The controversy that ousted Starr, as well as Baylor head football coach Art Briles, centers on multiple allegations of sexual assault by members of the football team and that members of the football coaching staff interfered with investigations into those allegations. An independent review of those allegations by law firm Pepper Hamilton found them to be credible, prompting Briles' removal as coach and Starr’s demotion from president to chancellor.

"We need to put this horrible experience behind us," Starr said in an interview with ESPN, which first reported the news. "We need to be honest."

"The captain goes down with the ship," he added.