Report: MSU's President Lou Anna Simon Will Step Down By End Of Week
EAST LANSING (WWJ) - The State News is reporting that Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon will step down by the end of the week.
The student newspaper says, "According to a knowledgable source to whom we have granted anonymity because the information was told in confidence, Simon's resignation is expected to come in the next few days, namely Friday, potentially sooner."
This news follows demands for Simon's ouster following the sentencing of ex-Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar in a Michigan courtroom for sexual assault and a week of victim-impact statements from over 150 young girls and woman -- calls from across the state for the removal of university president Lou Anna K. Simon.
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced Nassar on Wednesday to 45 to 175 years in prison -- for molesting the victims at his Lansing-area home and his MSU office under the guise of treatment for sports injuries.
A Detroit News investigation has reported that reports of sexual misconduct by Nassar reached at least 14 university representatives in the two decades before his arrest.
Adding fuel to the fire, MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson, the vice chairman of the board, speaking on radio station WVFN in Lansing Tuesday saying the issue was only briefly discussed by the board. "The meeting we had the other day was five hours," Ferguson said. "And talking Lou Anna was 10 minutes.
He also rejected the idea of the NCAA investigating Michigan State University — saying "this is not Penn State."
Calls for the resignation of Lou Anna Simon university president have been steady and unwavering -- with two trustees voicing a call for her resignation.
"The N.C.A.A. has requested information from Michigan State about any potential rules violations," said Donald M. Remy, the association's chief legal officer, on Tuesday.
The letter of inquiry to MSU, formally opens an investigation into how the university handled the case of Lawrence G. Nassar, the sports doctor who sexually assaulted scores of female athletes.