Ken Starr’s Study

Ken Starr became a household name in the late nineties, when his Starr Report led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Today the 64-year-old is the fourteenth president of Baylor University, in Waco, and he’s fully immersed in furthering the Christian mission of the private college and finding additional ways to provide scholarships for deserving students. At the home he shares with his wife, Alice, on the northeast side of campus, this fifth-generation Texan (he was born in Vernon) regularly finds himself in the study, which he keeps free of electronics. “It’s my refuge,” says Starr. “I spend a fair amount of time in there.” Just about every evening he sits in a leather chair that once belonged to former BU president Abner McCall to read, reflect, and make notes for the day ahead while surrounded by family photographs, favorite books, and other mementos.

On the Bookcase

• This card is by one of the leading artists in our family, my granddaughter Grace Elizabeth Doolittle. She made that for me for my birthday.

• Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov is one of my favorite novels.

• David Gergen is an old pal. We go a long way back. I thought this was a very good book.

• Maggie Thatcher, or Lady T. She adopted me as one of the boys. That means I’m at her beck and call.

• That’s when I became a judge, when I was a little too young to become a judge. I was 37.

• Reagan has always been a hero of mine. I had modest contact with him.

• This was given to me at the Dr Pepper Hour from the women’s softball coach. I used to coach softball and Little League when my children were younger.