Attention Turns to Michigan State After Nassar Sentenced for Sexual Misconduct

Attention Turns to Michigan State After Nassar Sentenced for Sexual Misconduct

Now that Larry Nassar has received over 100 years for molesting hundreds of girls, the fallout has begun at Michigan State University and how officials handled the accusations over the years. From Lansing State Journal:

A 2014 sexual assault investigation of Larry Nassar by MSU’s Title IX office concluded that his conduct could open the university to lawsuits and expose patients to “unnecessary trauma based on the possibility of perceived inappropriate sexual misconduct.”

Those key findings were never shared with Amanda Thomashow, the patient who said Nassar had assaulted her. Instead, those conclusions were part of a second report that went to Michigan State University’s Office of General Counsel, Nassar and his then-boss at the College of Osteopathic Medicine, William Strampel.

Nassar worked at MSU and for the USA Gymnastics team for over 20 years. His sentencing phase took seven days and 150 females testified in court what Nassar did to them, including when some of them were minors, as young as 6. The publication continued:

“MSU tried to silence my client in July 2014, by giving her a Title IX report stating she had not been sexually assaulted,” Jim Graves, Thomashow’s attorney, said in a statement to the State Journal.

“At the same time, MSU had the audacity to keep a second version of the same report undisclosed to my client and the public until now. The second version reveals MSU’s additional undisclosed findings that Nassar’s ‘sensitive procedures, is opening up the practice (MSU Sports Medicine Clinic) to liability and is exposing patients to unnecessary trauma…’ MSU’s disgraceful actions enabled Nassar’s egregious and destructive abuse of girls to continue after my client so bravely reported him to MSU.”

MSU President Lou Anna Simon resigned on Wednesday, followed by Athletic Director Mark Hollis on Friday.

As I write this, MSU students have started a rally to support survivors of sexual abuse. From WTHITV:

Hundreds gathered at a campus landmark known as the Rock where they would hear speakers before marching to the university’s administration building.

Gretchen Witmer, a Democratic candidate for governor, will speak, march organizers said on Facebook.

Kiah Manthei, who held a sign that said, “Hear. Believe. Support,” told CNN she was there to support women who have gone through what no one should endure.

“It’s unacceptable and the administration here needs to take accountability for what has happened,” she said.

Kylee Kunse, a freshman who plans to major in animal science, said she came to the rally because she thought that leadership at the East Lansing school needed to change.

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