Denhollander Tears Into UM
Top story on DetNews. As many know here she was the former gymnast that brought the Nassar scandal to light. She is not happy...
Ann Arbor – The first woman who publicly accused convicted sports doctor Larry Nassar of sexual abuse said she is “horrified,” and “deeply disappointed” with the University of Michigan for how it has handled allegations of abuse by a late doctor at the school.
The university announced earlier this week five former patients of Dr. Robert E. Anderson alleged he sexually abused them during exams and a complaint in 2018 led to a police investigation.
“They had the choice 19 months ago to do the right thing and become leaders,” former gymnast Rachael Denhollander said Saturday in an interview with The Associated Press. “They chose corruption — again — and they put the survivors in a place where they had no choice but to speak publicly.”
Robert Julian Stone said this week Anderson assaulted him during a medical appointment at the university’s health center in 1971. Stone said he alerted university officials last summer, inspired by the national #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct.
Stone was first interviewed by The Detroit News, which began reporting on the allegations before the university announced its investigation. Stone, 69, said he contacted the newspaper because he felt “stonewalled” by the school when he sought documentation on the investigation.
“Instead of immediately pursuing transparency, and saying `How could this happen on our watch? We are going to make sure this never happens again.’ They kept it quiet and buried it,” Denhollander said in a telephone interview. “They forced the survivors to have to speak publicly to get anything to happen. That’s despicable. It’s re-victimizing and re-violating.”
February 23rd, 2020 at 11:39 AM ^
Have we heard from anyone at the U on this? Not about the incidents themselves, but about their investigation or response? I don’t recall seeing anything.
February 23rd, 2020 at 8:01 PM ^
Be patient, its only been 40 years since the first complaint.
February 23rd, 2020 at 10:34 PM ^
Source? Hope it's not the OP.
February 24th, 2020 at 12:00 AM ^
Reading is hard. From the OP:
"The university announced earlier this week five former patients of Dr. Robert E. Anderson alleged he sexually abused them during exams and a complaint in 2018 led to a police investigation."
Denhollander does the math for you: "They had the choice 19 months ago to do the right thing . . . ."
February 23rd, 2020 at 11:41 AM ^
Wait, my understanding was that the university police started their investigation back in 2018 but simply did not make everything public. If so, how does this constitute “corruption”?
Is this incorrect?
February 23rd, 2020 at 11:51 AM ^
Because they found the allegations to be true, sat on the investigation results for months, and only released the findings because someone contacted the detroit news.
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:26 PM ^
Your statement and her complaint are not entirely accurate. I have a colleague in the athletic dept and she tells me that this was indeed reported back in 2018. The police dept was immediately notified and an investigation began. Almost everyone associated with athletic dept from those days, including Carr, has been interviewed by the police. The students who were in any form or shape connected to the doctor were notified and some were interviewed as well. There was no leak. After the investigation was nearly complete, the school at the recommendation of the police dept made the issue public and established a hotline. Unlike Nasser and PSU cases, so far no one has stepped forward to say that they filed a complaint back then. Carr and others have said that they never heard any complain about the doctor. I am not being a homer, but I think UM has handled the situation well so far. If it turns out that someone had complained about the doctor and no one did anything, then heads should roll.
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^
The doctor has been dead since 2003 (I think). The incidents took place 30+ years ago. A complaint was registered in 2018. It appears no complaints were made before 2018. The investigation occurred in 2018 and 2019. Assuming my timeline is accurate, what exactly is Denhollander's complaint?
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:08 PM ^
I think the expectation at this point in our culture is that the only acceptable reaction can be self immolation, but I don't think I'm being too much of a homer to say it doesn't seem fair in this situation.
The man is dead, this is FAR from a MSU/Nassar situation and I don't think justice necessarily requires the public destruction of a person or an institution.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:15 PM ^
What about people who enabled this guy to do his "thing" that are still around? UM sat on this for the last 19 months. So, the guy who did it is dead, ho-hum, nothing to see here?
https://apnews.com/0a4c61e8acdbe0359598a0aa31a826ba
Dan Canham knew, and since this directly involves the football team, the only thing between UM and PSU is time and a few hundred victims.
No one is asking for "public destruction." How about a public inquiry to see the extent?
Horribly bad take.
February 23rd, 2020 at 4:26 PM ^
Accusing someone, dead or alive, of such terrible acts will have devastating effects on his family. Just because someone comes forward and says this guy did these terrible things to me 25 years ago and I am just reporting it, does not mean you are going public with the accusations and destroy his reputation and cause pain to his family. You investigate to see if it is true or not. The guy is dead and is not going to commit more crimes, assuming he did anything to begin with. It is my understanding that dozens of people have been interviewed so far buy UM and police.
February 23rd, 2020 at 6:59 PM ^
Why do you fucking idiots keep saying they sat on it or covered it up? It has been clearly reported that the AD notified the police in 2018 and a thorough investigation was done. There was a hotline set up and no other people have come foward. There is a single accusation was made in 2018, none when the doctor was alive or working. You want a press conference for that or something? Thi is not an MSU or PSU situation, no matter how bad you trolls want it to be.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:34 PM ^
If I had to guess what her remedies would be, in ranked order:
1. Not let it occur in the first place
2. If it then occurred anyway, be aware of the problem BEFORE any complaints were filed
3. Having failed 1 & 2, immediately upon a complaint being filed (15 years after the Dr's death) go public with a Hotline requesting more info and soliciting further complaints.
4. Issue blanket mea culpa and apology
5. Conduct an investigation
I think that would be a start, at least...
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:17 PM ^
Regarding #2 above: how exactly can you be aware a problem occurred before a complaint was filed?
February 23rd, 2020 at 3:25 PM ^
Agreed, that is not terribly clear. Before a public complaint is made (but after one made privately, through institutional channels) might make more sense.
February 23rd, 2020 at 3:37 PM ^
It would be through having proper controls to prevent these situations
February 23rd, 2020 at 11:54 PM ^
This is pretty darn close to exactly what UM did...
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:55 PM ^
Because it's popular to be "horrified" and "deeply disappointed" in everything these days regardless of facts or circumstances.
February 23rd, 2020 at 6:10 PM ^
Yeah but the sad irony here is that what you stated as being "popular" is not nearly as "popular" as the insinuation you made.
Otherwise, what constitutes proper handling in this specific matter does not seem to me to be intuitively obvious.
February 23rd, 2020 at 6:54 PM ^
30+ years? Try 50 years ago
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:04 PM ^
This is how I feel about it. I'm not sure how one can claim corruption or cover up if the only accusations or reports came out 15 years after the alleged abuser's death, and many decades after the event took place.
If those facts change - if an assistant or, God forbid, Bo knew about this back in the day - then this looks like a Sandusky analog. Until then, it seems like a really gross thing we found out about far too late to do anything about.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:43 PM ^
Bo would turn in his own mother if she was doing something indecent. Worst case is Bo frowned upon the Dr homosexuality and I'd bet that's the extent of it.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:55 PM ^
That's my perception of Bo as well. Wonder how many Penn State fans thought the same of JoePa though?
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:07 PM ^
You have no idea what Bo would do in a situation like this. Just because he coached at Michigan doesn't mean he wouldn't do something like this to "protect" the University, his team, and himself.
You sound exactly just like all the Penn State fans defending Paterno.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:28 PM ^
The bottom line is the university doesn't have a good moral excuse as to why it took 19 months to make the public and any potential victims in the public aware.
No, you don't have to immediately send a press release for every complaint, but after you knew it was true, you have to undisclose this. Both UM and the police are to blame. The police were gonna bury it and UM was fine with that. Only when the press was informed about this did either take public action.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:37 PM ^
Isn't the explanation that the investigation was on-going? It's entirely moral to not release information until an investigation is completed.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:42 PM ^
I don't remember the exact timeline, but I think the UM investigation was done last spring/summer. It said yeah, he did it, prosecutors do you want to prosecute?
Between then and the FOI from the detnews last week, the only think that happened was the prosecutors decided he was dead and the case happened too long ago to do anything.
February 23rd, 2020 at 6:51 PM ^
maybe you typed that wrong. can't prosecute a dead guy. tough to serve the warrant....
February 23rd, 2020 at 10:07 PM ^
Yeah, lol. Which makes the reason for delay even more suspect.
Altho I'm sure they also looked into who might have known and done nothing or covered it up. and it is also important for civil cases against the university or estate.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:58 PM ^
The delay was with the county prosecutor who just sat on the investigation from campus police for way too long (probably due to the case being outside the statute of limitation regardless of the evidence). The university’s sin was apparently being a little too content with the ball being in someone else’s court. Based on the evidence presented to the prosecutors, they should have known this was a ticking time bomb.
February 23rd, 2020 at 3:04 PM ^
In fairness, it would be improper to come out with any kind of release, statement, FYI, etc. before prosecutors made a decision on whether to pursue the case. The public reaction would create undue pressure on the prosecutors to pursue, whether that was proper or not.
Doesn't mean the prosecutors handled this perfectly - I don't know enough to say so. However, handing something that has not been made public over to prosecutors, and then going to the public and saying "HEY YALL LOOK AT THIS" before the prosecutors have decided their plan of action, is bad.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:34 PM ^
Your story is technically correct, the issue is the release of the investigation was delayed. The police investigation was de facto done for months, the UM investigation longer.
One of the survivors correctly thought that sitting on this was bullshit and contacted the detnews.
UM doesn't have a moral reason not to come out with sooner, other than liability and/or PR and/or incompetence.
That's not to say the initial investigation wasn't handled well. They received a complaint, researched it, found it was true, etc. But truth has to come out ASAP.
February 23rd, 2020 at 3:12 PM ^
I should say that, while I don't reach the same conclusions as the victims here, I'm still very encouraged that they're going public. This is always something that needs to be discussed and have light shed on, even if their feelings are slightly misplaced, I don't care. They're most certainly entitled to their feelings, and them taking swings is encouraging, to me, no matter who they're taking aim at. I suppose this stance of mine is flavored by the suicide of Gary Speed. I sincerely wish he had been able to talk about what haunted him, in any capacity.
February 23rd, 2020 at 11:45 AM ^
I don't understand.
February 23rd, 2020 at 11:47 AM ^
We could dig up his corpse & put it in the electric chair. Nobody has ever done that before. How's that for leading?
February 23rd, 2020 at 11:57 AM ^
The guy is already dead. Unless we have people who covered it up while he was still around... what exactly can we accomplish?
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
Something besides a hotline for the victims
February 23rd, 2020 at 4:17 PM ^
Starting point, not the end.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:08 PM ^
Yeah I’m just not sure what the end result is that she wants. It’s one thing if a complaint was filed many years ago and responsible parties are still alive and within the university who could be punished, but this seems futile. I’m not sure why the victims are disappointed they are speaking publicly. It seems that them speaking out and making others aware and encouraging other people to speak up if something like this happens to them is about the only positive thing to come from this situation. As a poster below said, we can always dig up his corpse and give him the chair. I’m just not sure what we she is looking to accomplish. I’d like to think this isn’t all about money, but the lack of a real complaint and her seemingly being offended by nothing the U has done, makes me think otherwise.
February 23rd, 2020 at 11:59 AM ^
If it's true that there was a predator on campus and the U knew it, then shame on us and we deserve to be punished and sued. I just don't know how we can piece together what happened unless there is a paper trail. The guy is dead. Anybody can accuse him and if there is settlement money out there they are going to start lining up. Hell, I was on campus in the 80s...
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:03 PM ^
They knew it after he was dead and long gone? Am I missing the argument here? The investigation was 2018, to me that means that’s when it was reported. I didn’t see anything that said they knew about it while he was employed.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:21 PM ^
No, they knew it 30 years ago, and fired him. Then, he was moved over to be the football team doctor. He was there for 25+ years.
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:04 PM ^
She’s upset because of something that allegedly happened in 1971. Um, ok.
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
No, she's upset because the U chose to hope the whole thing just went away, sort of like how the idiots in EL dealt with Nassar. And she's right.
The hope is that Schlissel embraces the problem and keeps the story and conclusions public - and, of course, that he doesn't try to whitewash the whole thing.
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:22 PM ^
Comparing this to the MSU / Nassar thing is flat out dumb. But hey look at me it's 2020 and I CARE.
February 23rd, 2020 at 3:07 PM ^
Sigh. This is exactly how quite literally every single one of these incidents unfolds — “we’re totally not like those scumbags at Penn State” was the Baylor mantra; “we’re totally not like those scumbags at Baylor and Penn State” was the Michigan State mantra; and I have to say I’m totally unsurprised that “we’re totally not like those scumbags at Michigan State, Baylor, and Penn State” is going to establish itself as the mantra here.
At least some of us here have a little humility and self-awareness. The facts of this case are shocking and deeply troubling. This is going to be a huge story and it is going to be very bad. I hope that we can treat it as a learning experience instead of burying our heads in the sand and shirking our sense of morality to defend and protect the image of the school that we love and some of its esteemed figures.
Time to live up to our self-proclaimed billing as the Leaders and the Best.
February 24th, 2020 at 4:34 AM ^
I agree and well put. It’s not a thing to be flippant about or dismissive of
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
You’re not wrong that it occurred in the early 70s. Apparently he was suspiciously “demoted” at one point in his career. That implies some sort of cover-up may have occurred, which obviously does not reflect well on the University of Michigan. It’s a fair criticism if people knew this was going on and did nothing. Not a good look.
I will say that trying to investigate 50 year old crimes is probably impossible. Half the people involved are probably dead. Most of the documents are probably missing, etc. Most people are also less inclined to believe accusations from 50 years ago, rightly or wrongly. It’s just not as relevant as a crime that occurred more recently.
I’d be curious if someone could put together a more comprehensive timeline of events.
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
Some of the accusations are as late as the 2000s. An accounting of those decades will come I am sure.
I think an explanation is needed as to why it took 2-1/2 months from the time Warde Manual got the letter and authorities were contacted. Also, people will criticize that the investigation wasn’t made public in an effort to find other victims. Also, Michigan will be criticized for letting campus police handle the investigation, right or wrong that won’t be viewed as independent.
PSU caught hell for letting campus police investigate Sandusky.
February 23rd, 2020 at 3:02 PM ^
You Are not welcome here if you are going to continue to pretend to be a concerned uofm fan. If you want to critique uofm, you can, just admire you are a closet sparty. Thank you lil bro.