by
Ex-MSU President Lou Anna Simon testifying in Washington.
MSU will pay to defend ex-president Lou Anna K. Simon, charged with lying about the Larry Nassar case, as legal bills related to the scandal climb to $20 million.
That brings total costs associated with the scandal up to $523 as of mid-November, the Lansing State Journal reports. The biggest cost is the $500-million settlement with Nassar's survivors. Tut the university also paid for counseling and consultant fees. (Let us not forget it gave a PR firm $500,000 to monitor the victims on social media.)
MSU is paying the law firms from investment income, not endowment funds, the paper says. It will sell bonds to cover the settlement.
The school is covering defense costs for all three current or former officials face charged related to the Nassar case.
WKAR, the public radio statio at MSU, last November explained why:
The MSU Faculty Handbook includes an indemnification policy covering the support of trustees, officers, faculty and staff “when acting in the good faith performance of assigned duties.” Passed by MSU Trustees in 1974, the policy has been revised several times, including this past August.
Authority for applying indemnification rests with the President, except for when the decision involves the President or individual Trustees, in which case decisions rest with the full Board of Trustees.
