Spartan Future

With Larry Nassar now sentenced to 175 years in prison for assaulting countless female athletes during his tenure with USA gymnastics and Michigan State University, the focus now turns to the role those institutions played in fostering a culture where such abuse could take place.

MSU has been in the spotlight this week as its board of trustees deals demonstrated aplomb comparable to that of Marie-Antoinette in dealing with the scrutiny the case has put on the university. The board stumbled in dealing with the fate of President Lou Anna Simon and appears overwhelmed by the depth of their accountability in dealing with the Nassar scandal. 

Michigan Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley, an MSU alumnus, has stated publicly the university should set aside hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate victims and stop fighting lawsuits brought by those Nassar harmed. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schutte has launched an investigation to look into MSU's actions and culpability in the Nassar case. Such a strategy represents clear steps forward in both human decency and institutional accountability. It's also clear politics will play a role in the investigation and the future of MSU.

Both Calley and Schutte are likely to make a run for Michigan's GOP gubernatorial nomination. That in of itself may force them to break with the appalling track record of their party in selectively ignoring sexual predators but any outcome the university faces must deal with the failed individuals and culture responsible without crippling the state's largest public university for years to come. That will not be an easy task.

At a time when Detroit lost out on a bid to bring Amazon's second headquarters to southeast Michigan citing insufficient young talent, state politicians need to be careful not to allow the damage to one of the most important institutions for creating such talent to put Michigan at further disadvantage. The state and all its citizens will need to step up to make sure Nassar victims receive their due compensation and restructure oversight without making MSU unviable as a top educational institution.

State Republicans and Democrats will need to stand together against changes to Title IX that may weaken institutional responses to sexual assault. Ironically, it's a Michigan native, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, leading the charge to raise the standard of evidence in sexual assault cases to a higher bar than those that already allowed Nassar to thrive. DeVos is a national embarrassment demonstrating staggering incompetence given implications of the Nassar case. Michigan deserves, and can do, better.

Michigan State is one of three state public universities where trustees are elected on a statewide basis. MSU's ineffectual board comprised of ex-coaches, ex-jocks, and ex-politicians is a textbook example of parties how put forward name recognition candidates in a popularity contest rather than candidates serious about higher education. The opposite route of all gubernatorial appointees is equally distasteful. Michiganders need look no further than the other green and white state university, Eastern Michigan, who's appointed board of trustees has a distinguished history of dysfunction.

A mix of appointees, congressional district candidates, and at large state candidates is likely the way to build a functional board. However, a change like that will take an amendment to the Michigan constitution. 

MSU must recover. Viable, healthy, diverse and safe institutions of higher learning are key to Michigan's future. Michiganders everywhere must be part of the change to get there and must make it a priority. We are all accountable in preventing a future catastrophe like Larry Nassar and in preventing a spartan future for the Spartans of Michigan State.