Prop 8 Defender to Head Baylor University

Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton and who represented backers of Proposition 8 during its state constitutional challenge last year, is leaving his position as dean of Pepperdine University Law School to head Baylor University.

Starr will leave the law school in Malibu, Calif., to become president of the private Baptist university in Waco, Texas, in June, according to Bloomberg.

Starr rose to fame as the independent counsel who investigated President Clinton during the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals. He later defended the ban on same-sex marriages in California.

"In 2008 Starr joined the legal team defending California's anti-gay marriage measure, known as Proposition 8," reports Bloomberg. "He told the California supreme court that 18,000 gay marriages that predated the voter-approved law should be invalidated under the measure."

The chair of the Baylor University regents called Starr an "ideal" choice to lead the school because of "his dedication to the highest ideals of the Christian faith," according to a statement on the university's website.