USA Gymnastics Doctor’s Sentencing Renews Attention on Michigan State

Dozens of women are testifying this week at the sentencing hearing of Larry Nassar, the team physician for USA Gymnastics, who was convicted in November on seven counts of criminal sexual conduct. The accounts are disturbing. One woman said she was 6 years old when Dr. Nassar started sexually abusing her; others described years of depression and anxiety as a result of the abuse.

Though much of the national attention has focused on Dr. Nassar’s position with the women’s Olympic gymnastics team and the medal-winning athletes who have come forward with stories of abuse, questions about Michigan State University’s responsibility have resurfaced. Until 2016, Dr. Nassar was an associate professor at Michigan State’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and a team physician at the university. He had graduated from Michigan State’s medical school — though the The Detroit News reported that he almost got kicked out because he failed biochemistry twice — and began working there in the late 1990s.

In May 2014, Michigan State’s police department received a report about Dr. Nassar, according to a university web page about the case. The report was forwarded to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office, which did not file charges. The university did not start an investigation until 2016, when news reports were published about Dr. Nassar, a civil complaint was filed against him, and the university police received more reports of abuse.

The university is being sued by several of his victims on the grounds that officials didn’t do enough to protect them from his abuse. Michigan State officials have denied those claims. A spokesman said in November that the university conducted a joint investigation with the FBI to determine whether other university employees besides Dr. Nassar had engaged in criminal conduct. The results of that investigation were sent to the United States attorney for the Western District of Michigan. The university’s lawyer has said that the evidence will show that no Michigan State officials “believed that Nassar committed sexual abuse” before it was reported in the press.

The first phase of a two-part review of Michigan State by the law firm Husch Blackwell found that the university’s Title IX policies and procedures are “comprehensive and robust.” A second phase of the law firm’s review that is meant to focus on the effectiveness of the university’s Title IX program is to come out this spring.

The investigations have not quelled the university’s critics. The Lansing State Journal published an editorial in December calling on Lou Anna K. Simon, the longtime president, to resign. After Dr. Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in prison for child pornography, Ms. Simon apologized to his victims at a Board of Trustees meeting. She had been “focused on taking steps to strengthen every part of MSU’s operations, policies, and procedures that might in any way be improved to prevent something such as this from happening again,” she said.

This week’s sentencing brought renewed negative attention to the university. The Detroit Free Press reported that Ms. Simon and the chairman of the Board of Trustees, Brian Breslin, had decided not to attend the sentencing in person but would watch a livestream of it. The newspaper then published an article that was critical of that decision.

Several former student athletes testified about being abused while seeking treatment from Dr. Nassar, CNN reported. On Wednesday one of the women who testified referenced Michigan State in her testimony, according to reporters who were in the courtroom. Amanda Thomashow filed a complaint with the university but said she was not satisfied with the results.

Ms. Simon was in the courtroom on Wednesday to hear the testimony. She sat in the back of the spectator gallery as women told their stories. Below, she spoke with reporters afterward.

(Video courtesy of Lansing State Journal)

Nell Gluckman writes about faculty issues and other topics in higher education. You can follow her on Twitter @nellgluckman, or email her at nell.gluckman@chronicle.com.