The Linecast Baylor Line

Nine years ago, Dolores Lozano claims she was violently assaulted by a Baylor football player and her boyfriend at the time. In 2016 she filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming that – despite having gone to administrators and football program leaders – her alma mater had been negligent in its handling of her reports of domestic violence and, as a result, violated her rights under the Title IX federal civil rights law. On Tuesday, a Waco jury found Baylor liable. It's the only Title IX case to go before a jury and reach this verdict and involved the testimonies of former Baylor head football coach Art Briles and former Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw. The decision comes just weeks after Baylor settled the largest case of the scandal: a 2016 federal lawsuit brought by 15 women who alleged they were sexually assaulted. Now that the trial has wrapped, let's talk with the reporter who has been covering this beat since 2015.
Dan Solomon is a senior editor at Texas Monthly, where he has covered topics from the Baylor sexual assault scandal to the gentrification of Austin barbecue to the legacy of Texas outsider artist Daniel Johnston. His reporting has appeared in the New York Times, GQ, Vanity Fair, Wired, Fast Company, Billboard, and Deadspin.
Read Dan's reporting on the Baylor sexual assault scandal:
A Jury Found Baylor Liable for Failing to Prevent Violence Against a StudentThe Most Puzzling Moments From Art Briles’s Testimony in the Baylor Title IX LawsuitSilence at Baylor (from August 2015; co-reported with Jessica Luther)How Baylor Happened (from February 2019; co-reported with Luther)
Make sure to join us for Baylor Line Festival, a first-of-its-kind, three-day, action-packed event bringing together important thinkers and big ideas. It's going down December 7-9 in Waco. Check it out at baylorline.com/festival

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Joanne Cummings is the director of Baylor’s Middle East Studies program and teaches in the BIC and Political Science department. She has also been instrumental in the development of an interfaith minor here at Baylor. A retired diplomat, her experience is wide-ranging. She was most recently the Foreign Policy Advisor (POLAD) to CJTF-OIR, based in Baghdad. She has also served extensively in the Middle East, North Africa, and East Africa.
As the daughter of a diplomat, she was raised in Lebanon, lived in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, finished high school in Tehran, Iran, and graduated from university in Beirut, Lebanon before gaining an MA from the University of Texas at Austin. In the Department of State and in the private sector, she has worked in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Jerusalem, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Ethiopia, and Micronesia as well as nine years working regionally from Morocco through Pakistan. Joanne was previously Deputy Chief of Mission in the Federated States of Micronesia.
In this conversation, Joanne and I discuss the recent escalation of war between Israel and Hamas. She helped me understand the conflict, the history, the two sides, and – very importantly – the language we use to describe the region and the people in it.
Much has happened since we taped this conversation and I knew that would be the case, so towards the end listen for Joanne’s suggestions on which media outlets to follow for up-to-date, accurate, and considerate coverage of the unfolding events.
I hope this conversation is useful for you in understanding such an important global issue. If you'd like to hear more from Joanne, she's been in several other interviews lately:
KCENFox 44
After our conversation, she also sent me this link from the BBC on how they approach using the word "terrorists."

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You’ve probably seen Dr. Peter Hotez on the news before, being interviewed, sited, or – sometimes – skewered. He’s made a name for himself in the fight against anti-science and was a constant presence as a primetime source during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Hotez is the founding Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine where he is also the Co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics. He is also University Professor at Baylor University. His latest book is "The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientists Warning."
He joins The Linecast to talk about his run-in with Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.; his work to fight anti-science rhetoric; and the what the future holds for us in navigating, what often seems like, a post-truth world.
You can find Dr. Hotez on X.

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Dr. Beth Allison Barr is the James Vardaman Endowed Professor of History at Baylor, having also served as graduate program director of the history department and associate dean of the Baylor Graduate School. She’s a 1996 graduate of the very same history department in which she now teaches. She earned her masters and doctorate at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on European women, Medieval and early modern England, and church history. She’s the wife of a preacher and a contributor to Christianity Today, the Washington Post, and Religion News Service. Her book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth was a runaway success.
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Jeff Smith joined HighGround Advisors (formerly Baptist Foundation of Texas) in 1990 and was named President and CEO in 2013. In his 32 years of celebrated service at HighGround, Jeff has utilized his legal education and expertise to help people make charitable gifts to Baptist organizations and institutions, building long-term and trusted relationships with institutions, their development staffs and donors.
This episode is a recording of Jeff's acceptance speech as a Distinguished Alumni for Baylor Line Foundation's Hall of Fame 2022. He is introduced by his friend, Dr. Gary Cook.

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Michelle Andrews Smith is the chief of staff and the principal spokesperson for the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC. Since graduating from Baylor (‘90, MIJ ‘91), she has worked in various public sector roles to help government institutions communicate economic policy issues in a way that is clear, transparent, accountable, and accessible to a general audience. She has served as a senior adviser to three US Treasury Secretaries and four Chairs of the Federal Reserve.
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