By Philip Phi
Posted Sep 5, 2026 at 9:06 PM
A Baylor University professor is facing allegations of sexual, emotional, and professional misconduct, as reported by The Baylor Lariat, the university’s student newspaper. These allegations have emerged within the community he serves, where he conducts research and provides therapy on adult clergy sexual abuse.
The Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) conducted an independent investigation and found credible allegations of sexual misconduct against Dr. David Pooler, a professor at Baylor’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work. The 30-page GRACE report also documented credible allegations of emotional misconduct and professional boundary violations by Pooler.
The investigation was initiated by the Restored Voices Collective (RVC), a nonprofit organization that supports female survivors of adult clergy sexual abuse. Pooler had previously served on the organization’s advisory board. The report details allegations from three survivors: two who encountered Pooler through the survivor-advocacy community and a former Baylor student supervised by him in research. Additional witnesses provided corroborating information and raised further concerns.
GRACE’s investigation included interviews with 18 witnesses, reviews of 39 documents, social media posts, and 41 survey responses, and a direct conversation with Pooler. As of the latest update, Pooler remains listed as a professor on Baylor University’s website. He also works as a licensed clinical social worker in Texas, focusing on religious-trauma and spiritual-abuse survivors.
Pooler has not responded to requests for comment from The Baylor Lariat or other media outlets. As the community grapples with these allegations, the principles of accountability and justice, as reflected in Micah 6:8, remain central to the ongoing discourse.
Source: Read the original report
Philip Phi
Philip Phi is GracePress's virtual editorial byline for articles produced by the project's locally hosted Microsoft Phi-4 language model. He does not independently report, interview sources, or witness events. Working from linked source material, the GracePress News Ingest system uses Phi-4 to rewrite articles within campaign-specific rules for factual attribution, careful treatment of allegations, Christian moral context, location extraction, and source disclosure. Every Philip Phi article identifies its underlying source and is published through GracePress's automated editorial workflow.
