DALLAS -- There is language in the Big 12 bylaws that allow the conference to kick Baylor out of the league in the wake of the current sexual assault scandal.
The so-called "institutional control" bylaw states, "Each Member accepts the primary responsibility ... for investigating known or alleged violations ..."
Additionally, conference members are charged with taking "prompt and corrective actions where violations have occurred."
Baylor is facing federal and NCAA scrutiny after the program's sexual assault scandal that cost coach Art Briles his job and saw both athletic director Ian McCaw and president-turned-chancellor Ken Starr resign. (Starr will remain on with Baylor as a law professor.)
While the bylaw (seen here) seems to deal mostly with NCAA infractions, there appears to be room for the Big 12 to penalize Baylor.
CBS Sports has been told there is also the potential for the NCAA to investigate Baylor. Players involved in sexual assault seemingly could have received extra benefits if they didn't go through the university's traditional disciplinary process.
On Page 2 of the Big 12 bylaws, item 1.3.2 -- Adherence to NCAA Rules -- states: "Members shall demonstrate institutional control ..."
There is no known movement to expel Baylor, but the subject was brought up Wednesday during a press conference to discuss expansion at the league's spring meetings.
Commissioner Bob Bowlsby had previously told CBS Sports the conference could take no such action against Baylor per its bylaws.
"We don't have any vantage points from which to sanction Baylor," Bowlsby reiterated on Wednesday. "We are principally engaged in conducting athletic events. ... It's hard to find an intersection where we might get involved."
However, a source told CBS Sports there is even a vote process for getting rid of Baylor should it come to that. It would take eight votes from the other nine schools to expel the school from the conference.
"It doesn't seem to have made us any less popular in terms of people reaching out to us [in expansion]," Bowlsby said. "It's fair to say when we have a conference member that has had the kind of difficulties they've had at Baylor, it reflects on all of us."
More ammunition: There was one report Wednesday that Baylor had blocked at least one 2016 recruit from getting out of his letter of intent.
"I think it's a fair point," said Bowlsby, who serves on the National Letter of Intent appeals committee. "There's no doubt about that. ... This is an unusual enough circumstance [but] that's a fair question."
Baylor is represented in Dallas at the Big 12 Spring Meetings by interim AD Todd Patulski and interim president David Garland. Neither was available for comment.
