MSU newspaper reporter on how Larry Nassar scandal ignited a "culture bomb"
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State University remains under scrutiny in the wake of former USA Gymnastics Dr. Larry Nassar's sentencing. Rachel Fradette -- an MSU student who is editor-in-chief of the school's newspaper, The State News -- joined CBSN's Vladimir Duthiers and Anne-Marie Green Monday to talk about the student body's reaction to the scandal.
Fradette said students are now demanding cultural and administrative changes on campus. The school's editorial board also wrote an article calling for all enablers to resign.
"We're trying to get answers for the survivors who have been dealing with this for so long," she said. "If you read our editorial, we're trying to get to the point that just having Simon step down will not be enough. We need to see a lot more cultural change at MSU, or it's going to continue. It's not going to stop."
Last week, MSU President Lou Anna Simon and the school's athletic director Mark Hollis subsequently resigned amid outcry over the school's handling of allegations against Nassar.
Fradette said Simon's resignation has left the student body feeling like they're "kind of in uncharted waters."
"I think a lot of students are upset, but in a different way," she said. "They're very guilty about what's happened, they're very upset these survivors went so many years without being heard. And I think what's really hurting is that this happened at their school -- a place they call home."
Asked what message she'd deliver to other universities and colleges across the nation, Fradette replied: "This could be your school. This is not something that is mutually exclusive to MSU. This is an issue that has been going on on college campuses for years."
"This issue is a culture bomb and it's not just one school. It's when we decide that it's one school that this will happen again," she concluded. "So, I really think that we need to be paying attention, and we need to be looking at ourselves and reflecting. We need to start holding each other to account and pay attention."
Nassar served on the faculty and saw patients at MSU for nearly two decades. He was sentenced to spend up to 175 years in prison after admitting to sexually assaulting patients under the guise of medical treatment while employed by MSU and USA Gymnastics, the sport's governing body.
Many women who spoke at his sentencing took aim at both USA Gymnastics and the university for failing to protect its athletes and ignoring warning signs. Some of the victims' parents have questioned how they missed signs of the abuse.