Former MSU President Lou Anna Simon accused of lying about Larry Nassar

Simon was charged today in the Eaton County District Court with two criminal charges and two counts of misdemeanor. She faces up to four years in prison if she is convicted.

Simon told state police investigators that she was aware that in 2014, a sports medicine doctor from the MSU had been the subject of an investigation into under Title IX. The Attorney General's Office told the court that Simon knew that Nassar had been the subject of the 2014 investigation.

She has not yet been brought to justice.

Simon stepped down as president of the MSU on January 24, a few hours after Nassar was sentenced by the Ingham County Court of Appeal to a prison term ranging from 40 to 175 years for assault. sexual.

The acting president of the MSU, John Engler, said in a statement that the university was "aware of today's accusations against former president Simon" and that Simon was taking "immediate leave" , without remuneration, to focus on his legal situation ".

The university asked further questions to Simon's lawyer, Lee Silver.

TO CLOSE

Lou Anna Simon was president of Michigan State University for 13 years. She resigned on Jan. 24 under pressure from the Larry Nassar scandal.
RJ Wolcott / Lansing State Journal

A member of Reclaim MSU, a group of students, teachers, staff members and alumni demanding changes to the MSU as a result of Nassar, called the charges "good". things".

"I think it's the first step in a long process of empowering the institution's employees on what's happened here," said Natalie Rogers, the group's organizer. .

The Michigan Attorney General's Office announced the opening of an investigation into Michigan State University's treatment of reports of sexual assault against Nassar in January, during two sentencing hearings in Michigan. the former doctor in disgrace.

Strampel, Klages already loaded

William Strampel, former Dean of Osteopathic Medicine and former Chief of Nassar, was the first to be charged. He faces a crime charge unrelated to Nassar and two criminal charges for his actions during and after a 2014 Nassar Title IX investigation.

In August, the Attorney General's Office charged Kathie Klages, a former MSU gymnastics coach, with lying to the police about her knowledge of sexual assault complaints against Nassar prior to 2016.

Strampel and Klages are awaiting trial in Ingham County Court.

The Office of the Prosecutor said investigators interviewed more than 500 people, including "all survivors of Nassar who wanted to be interviewed, as well as MSU faculty and staff, coaches and community members."

Nassar, 55, formerly of Holt, sexually abused hundreds of women and girls, many in her MSU office. He is serving a 60-year federal sentence for three convictions for child pornography and has been sentenced to several decades of imprisonment for 10 convictions for sexual assault by state courts.

Simon under fire in the Nassar case

Simon had been criticized for a good part of 2017 for the treatment of Nassar by MSU. Only when the national spotlight became interested in the case did MSU's support for Simon's board begin to falter.

Five days before his resignation, the directors meet for several hours behind closed doors and come out with a statement that said: "We continue to believe that President Simon is the good leader of the university and she enjoys our support. "

But the next day, administrator Mitch Lyons called Simon to resign. Councilor Dianne Byrum followed suit.

Members of the MSU faculty Senate called for a vote of no confidence in Simon the day before his resignation.

As accusations against Nassar became more and more numerous, Simon was repeatedly questioned about MSU's response to complaints of sexual misconduct. She has been criticized for her comments widely perceived as deviating responsibility from the university.

"We are committed to creating a culture of accountability, security and responsiveness to sexual assault and harassment," Simon said in February 2017, defending MSU's treatment of sexual misconduct investigations in two cases. prosecutions initiated at the time by nearly 40 women. Nassar sexually assaulted them.

"There is no culture of tolerance for sexual assault or harassment (at the MSU)," she said.

She said at a meeting of the board of directors in April 2017 that experts had told her that it was "virtually impossible to arrest a determined sexual predator and a pedophile", says made the necessary efforts to conceal their behavior.

Eight months later, in December, she apologized to the victims of Nassar, stating, in part, "I'm sorry for a doctor named Spartan and so betrayed your trust and all that this university defends. "

During his testimony before a sub-committee of the US Senate last June, Simon reiterated that no one at the MSU was aware of Nassar's criminal behavior before 2016.

"If I had known that Nassar was sexually abusing young women, I would have immediately taken steps to prevent her from taking on other victims, including ending her job and report it to the police, "she told the members of the subcommittee.

Simon became the first female president of MSU in early 2005 after more than ten years as provost.

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