Lou Anna K. Simon, president of Michigan State University, was right to resign as a result of the Larry Nassar horror show of sex abuse of young female athletes. Keeping students safe must be the No. 1 priority for every college president, and rooting out predators on campus is an essential first step in creating a culture in which sexual abuse cannot exist. Nothing else really matters if we fail to act immediately to reports of sexual abuse on campus — not the winning teams, not the beautiful new arena, not achieving the fund-raising goals — nothing else matters if our students are abused.
After the Pennsylvania State University sexual-abuse scandal, no college president or board can claim to be ignorant of what’s at stake in responding immediately and effectively to sexual-assault allegations, including failing to recognize the suffering of the victims. Graham B. Spanier, former president of Penn State, was convicted of a misdemeanor for failing to take action when he learned of accusations against Jerry Sandusky. His board initially issued statements of support for Spanier rather than expressions of concern for the victims.
Simon learned about a Title IX sexual-abuse investigation of a sports-medicine doctor at Michigan State in 2014, but her actions clearly have been too little, too late, and — like the leadership at USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee — she did nothing to demonstrate compassionate care for Nassar’s victims over a long period of time. The Michigan State board vigorously defended her while remaining silent on the terrible effects of Nassar’s crimes on the young women.
Presidents must step up immediately to take ownership of a crisis, not hide behind lawyers and boards and statements crafted by image consultants.
But colleges and their leaders are, indeed, responsible and accountable for what happens to students on our campuses. Presidents must step up immediately to take ownership of a crisis, not hide behind lawyers and boards and statements crafted by image consultants. Presidents must put care and concern for the student victims first, passionately so, and must express that in genuine and immediate outreach. Mitigating legal damages should not be the first instinct, but rather finding ways to heal the physical and emotional wounds of those who suffered so much at the hands of college personnel.
Sadly, in too many colleges today, the presidency has devolved from a position of moral and intellectual leadership to a common business executive more concerned with tending the bottom line than upholding great principles for life. Exemplary presidents today, at least by such standards as media coverage or magazine rankings, are those extolled for raising a great deal of money or landing huge business deals for “innovation.”
There are no medals for presidents who quietly but effectively keep their students safe year in and year out, insisting on transparency and good conduct throughout the campus community, exemplifying those standards by their own personal conduct and rooting out potential predators before they strike. We need a better reward system that extols values-centered leadership, not just the business success stories.
How can a president know the dangers that might lurk blocks away in the medical-school buildings, or the science labs, or basement faculty offices? Of course a president cannot know, but a president must have the leadership qualities to articulate the right values and expectations for everyone on campus. A leader cannot be afraid to promulgate those values repeatedly, including to faculty who, sometimes incorrectly, insist that executive statements about personal conduct infringe on autonomy.
A president must be willing and able to insist that standards for student safety and policies on sexual misconduct apply to all employees with no exceptions. And the president must be willing to take action, including firing an employee who violates the rules — even if the employee is a faculty member, dean, or prominent coach. Nobody should be “untouchable” when it comes to improper touching or threats of abuse.
Presidents and boards must understand risk management, and they must know the difference between establishing and maintaining sound policies to prevent sexual abuse versus stonewalling if a sexual-abuse case arises. Part of the stonewalling today is a tendency among presidents to wall themselves off from effective and important communications about what is really happening on campus. Higher education has a charming but dysfunctional belief that keeping a president informed, or having a president who asks a lot of questions, invites the dreaded “micromanagement.”
Too many presidents stay so far removed from reality that they truly do not know what’s going on — and that is a major abdication of their first responsibility to ensure the safety and welfare of students. Too many college lawyers also urge the president to stay out of it, to the detriment of the president’s ability to exert leadership, and to express appropriate care and concern for victims. Taking the risk of humane expressions of concern must be part of the president’s exercise of moral leadership.
#MeToo is not just a movement in the media and entertainment industry. For years, higher education has been under fire for failing to address the problem of sexual assault and harassment on campus, with student-on-student assault gaining the headlines. The Michigan State case is now this year’s #MeToo moment for higher education, exposing the reality, as if we needed more evidence, that even an esteemed campus figure, a doctor, can commit serial and protracted sex crimes with students.
University presidents and boards must wake up and take responsibility for the sickness we seem unable to cure, the continued existence of sexual crimes and predators lurking on campus. We cannot afford one more day of timidity in taking the actions necessary to put an end to this crisis. College presidents must be forceful and fully engaged, actively and urgently leading the way to permanent solutions: No excuses are acceptable for allowing abuses to continue.
Patricia McGuire is president of Trinity Washington University.