MSU Board Gives Simon Vote of Support
"Through this terrible situation, the university has been perceived as tone-deaf, unresponsive and insensitive to the victims," chairman Brian Breslin said at the end of a nearly five-hour session to discuss the Nassar case. "We understand the public's faith has been shaken. ... This can never happen again. ...
"We continue to believe that President Simon is the right leader for the university, and she has our support."
I hope these people burn.
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/22151987/lou-anna-simon-g…
January 19th, 2018 at 7:17 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 8:38 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 8:39 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 7:19 PM ^
These are elected positions. We can ensure that every single one of them end up off the board.
January 19th, 2018 at 7:24 PM ^
Slowly. Two every two years, with eight year terms. Unless there are recall petitions formulated, approved by the state, distributed, signed, and ultimately enacted.
January 19th, 2018 at 8:16 PM ^
I suggested yesterday that a guarded "vote of confidence" could be a placeholder until decisions are finalized, as pre-firing votes of confidence always are. But the quotes I've seen today go quite a bit further and say that Simon is the right choice "moving forward."
They're going to have to work hard to defend that, because the entire state disagrees, and now if she goes it will (rightly) be seen as the result of outside pressure rather than a proper decision by the trustees. The people who critiqued my characterization of the trustees appear to have been dead on.
It seems like literally everyone attached to that situation is handling this terribly. Case study in how not to respond. From the overlooking of the abuse to the lack of communication to skipping victim impacts to ill-timed votes of confidence. Think about this: MSU business majors will take classes in which crisis response will be taught, and they will learn about their own school's response as a textbook example of how not to do it.
January 19th, 2018 at 7:22 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 8:11 PM ^
You're nailing a point to all this.
The media has soft-peddled the comings and goings of the two major sports programs at that place for a decade. And I think you hit on a likely reason why.
Wonders Hall. The recent rapes. Bullough before the Rose Bowl. Rather Hall. Those get entirely more aggressive and dogged media treatment if they happened at Michigan.
And that's relevant here because you now have an entity which isn't well versed in crisis management. Because it hasn't really had to be sharp. The nuclear bomb which could have dropped it's way with previous issues has always been tucked away in the silo.
The stakes are beyond high and people like Simon and the B of T members thought deflection and denial would make it vanish with the lightning pace of today's news cycles.
January 19th, 2018 at 7:24 PM ^
This feels like trying to put out the smoke when they are really just fueling the fire.
January 19th, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^
loyal to her. They see her as virtuous; they see the institution the same way. This is an act of defiance by people who are telling themselves they're doing the right thing, defying the cries for blood. They don't see that taking responsibility--fully taking responsibility is what is required now.
It's not that Simon is a demon; I'm sure she's very nice. She needs to say the buck stops here and go.
January 19th, 2018 at 8:38 PM ^
Yeah it's self-delusion hoping that maybe this will blow over, when to anyone looking in from the outside, they are most certainly fucked.
January 19th, 2018 at 9:07 PM ^
Dollar Bills rule the day!
January 19th, 2018 at 9:32 PM ^
Something tells me that's not going to be the case going forward, though.
January 20th, 2018 at 7:46 AM ^
Their #1 job in reality is fundraising, especially in an era of declining government support.
January 19th, 2018 at 7:24 PM ^
I just hope their football and basketball teams get the hammer...
January 19th, 2018 at 8:22 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 9:29 PM ^
They shouldn't have to burn if they were complicit, but... you do gotta ask: what the hell else would make important people take notice at MSU?
January 19th, 2018 at 7:25 PM ^
Because of course they do...wtf?
January 19th, 2018 at 7:25 PM ^
Just when you thought Sparty couldn't find a way to handle this worse.
I'm a lawyer, I get the instinct that taking remedial measures looks like an admission of guilt, but at this point, the guilt is universally accepted, so bite the bullet and try to fix things rather than doubling down on the horrible conduct that got you guys in this position to start with.
January 19th, 2018 at 8:27 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 7:28 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 8:41 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 7:32 PM ^
Isn't a Spartan courageous is the face of danger by definition? Something is amiss.
January 19th, 2018 at 8:30 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 7:37 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 7:56 PM ^
I guess we'll find out soon if the student government and student newspaper really meant their calls for her to step down or if they were just posturing.
January 19th, 2018 at 7:58 PM ^
Students need to start organizing protests. They had a prime opportunity with a nationally televised game at Breslin, but nothing yet.
January 19th, 2018 at 7:43 PM ^
1. They fear canning Simon will be interpreted as an acknowledgement of some level of culpability.
2. They hope the incompetents running the federal government will push them off the front page if/when they shut the government down.
January 19th, 2018 at 7:48 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 7:48 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 7:56 PM ^
"the evidence will show that no MSU official believed that Nassar committed sexual abuse prior to newspaper reports in the summer of 2016.
That's exactly the problem, actually.
January 20th, 2018 at 7:53 AM ^
Simon inadvertently nails the crux of the whole situation, didn't she?
She undoubtedly was trying to push the notion that MSU officials can't be blamed for not believing any abuse was occurring, but the evidence makes that assertion a sick joke.
January 19th, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^
"We understand and respect the desire for information and details arising from the Nassar matter, which now spans 16 months.."
No, it spans more than 16 years. No amount of pretending it's just a recent matter is going to change that.
January 19th, 2018 at 8:08 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 8:11 PM ^
This has been public since fall of 2016. I'm glad they're involving the Michigan attorney general; something of that scale should have occurred far sooner.
Regarding this quote:
the evidence will show that no MSU official believed that Nassar committed sexual abuse prior to newspaper reports in the summer of 2016.
I tend to believe this when people say it. But the "belief" of the "officials" is not the relevant issue. The issue is whether or not they they should have acted. Note that this action does not require belief. You do not need to believe someone is guilty to investigate or report an issue. The question is whether or not they had enough information to do more than they did.
And MSU has gone to very little effort to inform the public about this.
January 19th, 2018 at 8:44 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 8:12 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 8:21 PM ^
They're in full-on chase mode now. They've run up $100,000 in credit card debt and they just figured out this week that paying the minimums wasn't going to cut it.
January 19th, 2018 at 8:27 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^
"The testimony of Nassar's victims this week made many of us, including me, listen to the survivors and the community in a different way."
What an incredible statement. This stuff was covered up by various players over time, she's known about it for a while herself, yet she's acting as though she just had this major revelation. Wowsers.
January 19th, 2018 at 8:51 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 7:49 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 7:50 PM ^
Bunch of tools.
January 19th, 2018 at 7:52 PM ^
B1G East: the division of sexual predator enablers.
January 19th, 2018 at 8:03 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 8:15 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 8:43 PM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 9:23 PM ^
There is a point to be made for Gibbons. But LTT did something stupid, and was immediately dismissed for it. You cannot include him in that discussion - he was immediately dismissed.