MSU's Simon to Step Down
Courtesy of the State News:
http://statenews.com/article/2018/01/simon-to-resign
EDIT - Second Link: http://statenews.com/section/nassar-coverage
January 24th, 2018 at 10:57 PM ^
If you're implying that the school covered for Gibbons, that's a bit off the mark.
The changes in the school's sexual misconduct policy were due to a reinterpretation of Title IX by the Obama administration. Previously, the university would not have expelled a student (athlete or not) under Gibbons's circumstances.
I don't think it's fair to criticize Hoke for playing him in the meantime. The case had been resolved, only to be reopened at the end of Gibbons's senior year. I don't know why Hoke gave the "family issues" cover story as to why Gibbons left the team, though.
January 24th, 2018 at 11:07 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 11:19 PM ^
I get what you were saying. I was just correcting a line in your post.
January 25th, 2018 at 2:37 AM ^
wasn't gibbons suspended when the news came out then later reinstated then suspended again when the UM policy changed. my memory is fuzzy. but the issue certainly wasn't ignored.
January 25th, 2018 at 7:04 AM ^
It was Rich Rod. I don't know why people can't get this right.
January 25th, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^
Yeah, by the time Hoke was hired it had been over a year since the incident.
January 25th, 2018 at 8:34 AM ^
when he got into trouble. RR didn't say what his punishment was as far I can recall.
January 25th, 2018 at 9:05 PM ^
him to try to keep him out of trouble? Hoke wasn't going against Brandon.
January 24th, 2018 at 11:27 PM ^
They lowered the standard of proof to a mere preponderence, which is absurdly low for such consequential charges.
January 24th, 2018 at 9:19 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 10:18 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 6:43 AM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 8:27 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 8:34 PM ^
that there were hundreds of victims, but she was informed he was being investigated in 2014, and it seems she didn't bother to look into it herself, not even simply checking with the volleyball coach and other athletic department personnel to see if they had EVER heard of ANY type of complaints about him. If she had done that and realized there was a nearly 20 year history of complaints against him, he wouldn't have been brought back - at least you would hope. Instead he was ultimately allowed to victimize more patients after a brief suspension. There was a sickening lack of due diligence by Simon.
January 24th, 2018 at 8:49 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 11:58 PM ^
I don't understand why people think it matters if she knew at all- when the scale of harm is undeniably catastrophic and lasts for 20 years, that is a DIRECT result of the very culture a leader instills.
If a leader does not actively create and facilitate a culture of protection for those who cannot protect themselves, knowingly or not, that leader has instead created a culture of enablement and is completely responsible for everything consequence that just needed the cracked-door opportunity to exist.
The "but I didn't know" card is not in her deck- the only one a leader gets to play is "I made sure I knew what I could and eliminated opportunity for what I couldn't know". Compare this to finding childcare (which it actually is in many cases)... Which babysitter or daycare are you taking your kid to?
January 24th, 2018 at 8:39 PM ^
Not a classy move when you are tone deaf for months while everyone else is telling you it needs to happen, and when you are, it looks like, a large part of the problem.
This isn't a case of the person in charge who probably had nothing to do with it, deciding to step down, so everyone can move on and get on with it. She's part of the problem and has been fighting hard for the university to not admit anything, etc.
January 24th, 2018 at 8:55 PM ^
Talk about lack of institutional control. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought another institution to knock Penn State off the mountain top of heinous and delusional..... congrats Michigan State you have managed to outrape Jerry fucking Sandusky. How the parents of the victims have managed to not tear everyone from Simon on down, limb from limb, is beyond me, they are better people than I ever will be.
Fuck Michigan State, Nassar, Simon and anyone else involved.
You see how that works Lou Ann? You are now forever linked with Larry Nassar, have a nice life.....
January 24th, 2018 at 9:06 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 10:04 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 10:30 PM ^
but there was not a single word of regret in her resignation letter about anything she or anyone else had done other than the evil Nassar. Instead she patted herself on the back and took pains to point out she had already planned to resign at the end of 2016. She claimed politics as the reason she needs to step down now.
She got off on the wrong foot with her first line.
"The last year and a half has been very difficult for the victims of Larry Nassar, for the university community, and for me personally."
Every time she makes a statement, my opinion of her sinks even lower.
January 25th, 2018 at 12:18 AM ^
You hit the nail on the head there CD420. When I think of LAKS from now on, I will think of how classy she was. /barf
January 25th, 2018 at 12:44 PM ^
Did you read her resignation letter? Her first paragraph is absolutely embarassing to read.
She first shrinks the entire situation down to only the last couple of years "The last year and a half has been very difficult..."
And then heavily implies that MSU and herself are both victims "...for the victims of Larry Nassar, for the university community, and for me personally..."
before finally giving the ultimate non-apology: "I am so sorry that a trusted, renowned physician was really such an evil, evil person..."
She then goes on to say in effect that "well, I was going to resign anyway", and "I'm just doing it to not be in the spotlight anymore", reinforcing that this is not her taking responsibility for anything, it's just what she was going to do anyway and was sick of the heat.
She's a reprehensible person and CLASSY is the absolute last adjective I would use to describe her or anyone else involved on the MSU side.
January 24th, 2018 at 7:55 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 8:32 PM ^
\ \|// lying in the weeds \ \|//
January 24th, 2018 at 8:50 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 10:09 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 7:18 AM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 9:21 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 7:56 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 7:58 PM ^
Man, Tom Izzo's week just won't get any better. Poor guy.
January 24th, 2018 at 8:06 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 9:56 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 9:02 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 7:57 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 7:58 PM ^
Link is broken.
January 24th, 2018 at 8:01 PM ^
State News site keeps crashing...
January 24th, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 8:05 PM ^
Not sure that's true. Nassar was not employed via the athletic department, but through the school of medicine. Hollis should be removed for the obviously failed mandatory reporting training within the athletic department.
Klages should be imprisoned.
January 24th, 2018 at 8:31 PM ^
Whether or not he was officially Nassar's boss, at the end of the day Nassar was raping girls - many of them, for a very long time - under the auspices of one of his athletic programs.
If Hollis knew something, he needs to be fired. If he knew nothing, he needs to be fired.
January 24th, 2018 at 8:34 PM ^
Agreed, just disputing the part where he was more responsible for supervising Nassar. I think that part is wrong. The egregious failure to protect half of his athletes or act like he gives a damn about them should lead to his removal.
January 24th, 2018 at 8:40 PM ^
January 24th, 2018 at 9:07 PM ^
I would assume the statute on limitrations has run out? Failure to report was 20 years ago.
EDIT: Maybe obstruction of justice? Federal law has no statute of limitations if it's linked to a violent crime such as this. Not sure about Michigan law.
January 24th, 2018 at 11:35 PM ^
January 25th, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
Title IX has no statute of limitations. Looks like Michigan law is 10 years for criminal sexual allegations. Maybe a lawyer could comment on this but I presume the '97 victim could take it to federal court if she chose.
Interesting though, in contrast with MSU's intransience in this whole affair, they forced Klages to retire immediately. She's the point of the sword on this whole thing and she's probably toast when all is said and done.
January 24th, 2018 at 8:00 PM ^