Lou Anna Simon, former president of Michigan State U.Carolyn Kaster, AP Images
Updated (11/20/2018, 5:36 p.m.) with comment from Simon’s lawyer.
Lou Anna K. Simon, the former president of Michigan State University, was charged on Tuesday with lying to police officers in the state attorney general’s investigation into how the university responded to accusations against Larry Nassar, the former sports doctor who abused hundreds of women and girls, the Lansing State Journal reports. Nassar is now serving a 60-year sentence for his crimes, but faces decades more in prison on other charges.
We’re sorry, something went wrong.
We are unable to fully display the content of this page.
This is most likely due to a content blocker on your computer or network.
Please allow access to our site and then refresh this page.
You may then be asked to log in, create an account (if you don't already have one),
or subscribe.
If you continue to experience issues, please contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com.
Lou Anna Simon, former president of Michigan State U.Carolyn Kaster, AP Images
Updated (11/20/2018, 5:36 p.m.) with comment from Simon’s lawyer.
Lou Anna K. Simon, the former president of Michigan State University, was charged on Tuesday with lying to police officers in the state attorney general’s investigation into how the university responded to accusations against Larry Nassar, the former sports doctor who abused hundreds of women and girls, the Lansing State Journal reports. Nassar is now serving a 60-year sentence for his crimes, but faces decades more in prison on other charges.
Simon was charged with two felony counts and two misdemeanor counts, the Journal reports, and if convicted could be sentenced to as many as four years in prison. Simon said that she knew a sports-medicine doctor was at the center of a Title IX investigation in 2014, when she was questioned by state police officers. The attorney general’s office says she knew Nassar was the subject of the investigation.
Simon’s lawyer, Lee Silver, called the charges “baseless” in an interview with The Chronicle and said he planned to fight them in court.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I have not seen a shred of evidence to support these charges, which I believe are completely baseless,” Silver said. “We are confident that when we have our day in court, Dr. Simon will be exonerated, and these charges will be proven to have no merit whatsoever.”
Within a year the university lost two chief executives — Lou Anna K. Simon, sank by the scathing, heart-rending testimony of the sports doctor’s scores of victims, and John M. Engler, whose interim presidency ended amid a backlash over his bare-knuckled tactics.
In a statement, a university spokeswoman wrote that Simon is now taking a leave of absence from the institution, where she had returned to the faculty after stepping down as president in January. “We are aware of the charges brought today against former President Simon,” the spokeswoman wrote. “She is taking an immediate leave of absence, without pay, to focus on her legal situation.”
The charges make Simon the fourth former Michigan State employee to face criminal charges in the state’s Nassar investigation.
Earlier this year, William Strampel, the former dean of osteopathic medicine who was Nassar’s supervisor, was charged with two misdemeanor counts over his role in a 2014 investigation of Nassar. In August a former gymnastics coach, Kathie Klages, was also charged with lying to police officers about her knowledge of complaints against Nassar.
Fernanda is the engagement editor at The Chronicle. She is the voice behind Chronicle newsletters like the Weekly Briefing, Five Weeks to a Better Semester, and more. She also writes about what Chronicle readers are thinking. Send her an email at fernanda@chronicle.com.
