The president of Michigan State University won’t resign in the aftermath of the Larry Nassar scandal, according to a university trustee.
Joel Ferguson, vice chairman of Michigan State’s governing board, said emphatically during a radio program on Monday that its embattled president, Lou Anna Simon, won’t end her tenure at the 50,000-student university because of something “somebody else did.”
“That will not happen,” Ferguson told WVFN. “Period. She’s a fighter. Her overall, what she’s done for this university, she’s not going to get ran out of there by what somebody else did. I’ve been on the board for 30 years and she by far is the best president we’ve ever had.”
The decision wasn’t even a difficult one, Ferguson said, but rather a unanimous one made in just 10 minutes.
“The meeting we had the other day was five hours,” he said. “And talking Lou Anna was 10 minutes. … We unanimously decided in that meeting right away … we were going to support her staying as president. There’s so many more things going on at the university than just this Nassar thing.”
Nassar, 54, appeared in court Tuesday for Day 6 of his sentencing hearing. More than 120 women have read victim-impact statements in the sex abuse case, including three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman, who said she was “no longer a victim” when she confronted Nassar in court last week.
Nassar has admitted sexually assaulting athletes under the guise of medical treatment while employed by the university as a campus sports doctor and USA Gymnastics. He faces up to 40 years in prison in the molestation case in addition to the 60-year sentence he’s already received for child pornography crimes.
Ferguson’s comments follow a unified statement of support by the university’s board of trustees on Friday. One trustee, Mitch Lyons, later recanted his support and called for Simon’s resignation. In a statement issued Tuesday, Lyons disputed Ferguson’s take on Friday’s meeting.
“My recollection of Friday’s meeting was that the majority of five hours was spent on Nassar and how we move forward,” Lyons said. “I expressed my view that President Simon cannot survive this. I continue to implore my colleagues to do the right thing and demand President Simon’s resignation and if she won’t agree, to relieve her of her duties.”
The chairman of the Board of Trustees, Brian Breslin, suggested Lyons acted as a lone wolf in calling for Simon’s resignation. He also expressed confidence the university would prove its innocence once the investigative team does its due diligence.
“On Jan. 19, a unanimous Board of Trustees stated that we continue to believe President Simon is the right leader for the university and that she has our support. Regrettably, Trustee Mitch Lyons announced his intention to call for President Simon’s resignation. Importantly, all of the other trustees continue to support President Simon,” Breslin said in a statement to The Post.
“The Board of Trustees shares the outrage of the survivors over the egregious crimes committed by Larry Nassar on the campus of Michigan State University and in his work outside the university with USA Gymnastics and other organizations. The stories told in court this week are heartbreaking.
“We look forward to a prompt and thorough investigation by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office to help reassure the public that the university and its leadership have nothing to hide. As our outside counsel, former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, has written to the Attorney General, we believe ‘the evidence will show that no official believed that Nassar committed sexual abuse prior to newspaper reports in the summer of 2016.'”
Ferguson, meanwhile, said the Nassar scandal won’t affect the legacy of Simon, who has been president of the university since 2005.
“I mean, when you go to the basketball game, you walk into the new Breslin, and the person who hustled and got all those major donors to give money was Lou Anna Simon,” Ferguson said. “There’s just so many things that make up being president at a university that keeps everything moving and everything right with the deans, everything at a school where we have a waiting list of students who want to come.”
Simon expressed her appreciation for the board’s support in a statement to The Post.
“In the tragic stories shared this week by survivors, I heard the suffering and pain resulting from Nassar’s abuse. I also heard the great strength of these women. I am truly sorry for the pain his abuse caused and continues to cause,” Simon said.
“I appreciate the continued support reflected in the statement released tonight by Board of Trustees Chair Brian Breslin. I have always led with passion and to the best of my abilities for Team MSU, and I will continue to do so for today and tomorrow.”
Ferguson said Nassar’s victims — “the young ladies who have been wronged” — will benefit from “something happening in their favor,” without elaborating.
“I think that when people find out that this person was … by himself, I think they’ll move on, we’ll keep the university moving and I think with the president, we have,” he said. “She’ll continue to do a great job.”
Ferguson also scoffed at the suggestion of NCAA officials investigating the university, which many, including Aly Raisman, have called for.
“This is not Penn State,” Ferguson said, referring to the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal that rocked the Happy Valley campus in 2011. “They were dealing with their football program. … They’re smart enough to know they’re not competent to walk in here on this.”
A message seeking comment from NCAA and Penn State officials was not immediately returned.