by
MSU President Lou Anna Simon
In 2011, Penn State University hired former FBI director Louis Freeh to probe child sex-abuse allegations against a former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Though other investigations were going on, the school hired a serious gun slinger, showing it wasn't playing around anymore, that it was no longer placing the institution over the importance of people -- something universities too often do.
It's clear Michigan State University needs to do the same: Hire a past FBI director like Freeh or James Comey or former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to oversee a real investigation of disgraced doctor Larry Nassar, who admits sexually assaulting female patients.
That person needs to unearth the facts as quickly as possible and recommend to trustees whether MSU President Mary Lou Anna Simon should stay or be fired.
MSU's board needs to get past politics and loyalty. Let chips fall where they may, as the saying goes.
Enough b.s.
Evidence suggests that Simon and the university cared far more about minimizing the damage and brushing the horrific news aside rather than unearthing the truth.
Law firms hired by MSU to respond to allegations have barely talked to any of the 148 plaintiffs in a suit involving Nassar, The Detroit News reports. Those firm include one based in Chicago -- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom -- which was hired in 2015 and whose senior counsel bills clients $990 an hour.
"It casts serious doubt on the (Board of) Trustees and the administration’s commitment to finding the truth," John Manly, a California-based attorney who represents 107 victims in civil lawsuits against Nassar, MSU and others, tells The News.
"The victims and their families have been subjected to a series of misrepresentations and insults painted over with (public relations) rhetoric. What Michigan State is doing is what institutions do when they have something to hide."
Another report says Nassar continued to see patients during a criminal inquiry into abuse allegations.
Nassar may have seemed like a great guy to the powers that be at MSU. But he was was a predator, who at minimum, should have been placed on paid leave while the serious allegations were investigated.
Current and former students, taxpayers and Olympic athletes around the nation who were treated by Nassar deserve answers. One pressing question is whether Simon is worthy of staying in position that requires more concern about people than about MSU
