Michigan State Vows Transparency in New Independent Investigation of Nassar Scandal. People Are Skeptical.

As Michigan State University’s leaders tell it, there will now be an independent investigation and full accounting of how the institution handled Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse — with a report made public at the end.

Michigan State’s Board of Trustees announced on Friday that the university had decided to hire McDermott Will & Emery, a Chicago-based law firm, to run the investigation, after consulting with several of Nassar’s victims. The inquiry’s scope, timeline, and cost are unclear, pending further negotiations with university leaders, according to a statement.

“The board has decided to rip off the Band-Aid,” said Brian Mosallam, a board member, at the trustee meeting. “There will be accountability.” Mosallam had been calling for an independent investigation for a year.

But critics are wondering just how independent the review will be, and how committed Michigan State really is to being held accountable for its role in and response to the Nassar scandal. The university employed the sports doctor for nearly two decades, and he abused many girls and young women who came to appointments at his Michigan State clinic.

The Nassar Scandal and the Crisis of Michigan State’s President

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.

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For one thing, the university has tried an “independent investigation” before, and its legitimacy has since fallen apart. Two years ago, Michigan State hired Patrick Fitzgerald, a former federal prosecutor, to review whether university administrators had known about Nassar’s abuse.

Fitzgerald concluded that Michigan State officials had done nothing wrong. But he didn’t issue a public report of his findings. The New York Times and The Detroit News then obtained a copy of his contract with the university, which suggested that he’d been hired to shield the university from legal liability.

After Fitzgerald wrapped up his review, Nassar was convicted of sexually abusing hundreds of victims and sentenced to decades in prison. And in the past year, three ex-university officials — Lou Anna K. Simon, the former president; William Strampel, a former dean and Nassar’s longtime boss; and Kathie Klages, a former gymnastics coach — have been criminally charged for their roles in the scandal. Strampel was convicted this month of neglect of duty and misconduct in office.

Simon said repeatedly during the last year of her presidency that another independent investigation was unnecessary because of Fitzgerald’s work.

On top of that controversy, Michigan State officials have balked at releasing thousands of documents requested by the Michigan attorney general’s office, which is conducting one of the many active investigations into the university. Michigan State has cited attorney-client privilege to justify withholding the documents.

The attorney general, Dana Nessel, said on Friday that Michigan State “lacks the credibility necessary to conduct a legitimate investigation.”

‘A Culture of Indifference’

The attorney general’s office released a preliminary report into Michigan State’s handling of the Nassar scandal in December, and accused the university of fostering “a culture of indifference toward sexual assault, motivated by its desire to protect its reputation.”

In March, Nessel wrote in a letter to Dianne Y. Byrum, the board’s chair, that she’d heard the board was considering hiring an outside firm and that she was “puzzled by the purpose of this additional investigation.” The university’s board had explicitly asked the attorney general’s office to step in, she wrote, and yet due to the university’s lack of cooperation, investigators had been unable to do their jobs.

“It is unclear to me why the university would expend more public funds on yet another investigation if it will continue to withhold information from the public,” she wrote.

But one of Nassar’s victims is pleading with the critics to reserve judgment. Rachael Denhollander said in a statement on Friday that she and two other survivors had been working with the board for seven months on selecting a firm and getting the review underway.

While the attorney general’s work is important, she said, the office has the authority to look into only criminal activity. The independent review will go further, delving into critical questions about institutional culture and how to correct past failings, she said.

Moreover, the firm will work closely with a committee of Nassar’s victims, she said. She also praised the backgrounds of the lead investigators and their experience in prosecuting sex crimes.

“It should have been done three years ago,” said Denhollander, a lawyer herself. “But it is not too late to begin doing what is right, and I support this first step in that direction, while remaining firm that the truth must be told, no matter what the cost.”

Other universities embroiled in scandal, including Baylor University, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have also brought in firms to do independent reviews after the fact.

Those investigations have proved to be controversial. At Baylor, for instance, the firm of Pepper Hamilton never published a report of its findings about the university’s handling of sexual-assault cases involving football players, and its lawyers have faced criticism that they worked with board members to paint a slanted picture of the scandal.

Pepper Hamilton is now fighting legal challenges over its refusal to comply with court orders to turn over documents related to the investigation.

Sarah Brown writes about a range of higher-education topics, including sexual assault, race on campus, and Greek life. Follow her on Twitter @Brown_e_Points, or email her at sarah.brown@chronicle.com.