OT: MSU digs hole deeper, Engler adviser: Nassar survivor's claims of payout 'fake news'
MSU continues to shoot itself in the foot and dig the hole deeper as now this comes out today:
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/04/18/michigan-sta…
"The e-mails, which the Free Press obtained from a source in the administration building, started with one sent a day after Kaylee Lorincz, a Nassar survivor, claimed Engler offered her $250,000 to settle her lawsuit against the university in a meeting where Lorincz' attorney was not present.
"Kaylee's statements to the Board contained many false and inaccurate statements, which we did not publicly contradict out of an abundance of concern for the survivors who are quick to claim 'revictimization' or 'shaming' of survivors whenever they are falsely accusing members of the MSU community," the e-mail from Carol Viventi, vice president and special counsel to Engler, said."
"Understand that Bob Young advises that the plaintiff attorneys are willing to make bold and false assertions to advance their goal of increasing the cost of settlement," Viventi's e-mail said. "What members of the board say in public can, however unwittingly, advance the plaintiffs' goals and injure the university. When, as here, it is possible to verify whether public assertions made by plaintiffs are true, there should never be a statement in the press by board members that gives credibility to sensational headlines or what can best be described as "false news."
I swear to you, if their goal is to ensure the bankruptcy of a public university, they are doing a damn fine job. In the meantime, FIRE EVERYONE who was involved, fire everyone obstructing and victim blaming the victims.
Engler felt like a bad hire when they made it, but I bought to an extent the idea that he'd be able to diffuse some of the worst elements of the public discussion simply by force of personality. But somehow, he's made MSU worse off than if they had stuck with Simon, who at least could point to other positive things she did at MSU and, belatedly, showed some tiny sliver of remorse. Engler isn't even trying anymore.
Now their Alumni Director is suddenly retiring. It has nothing to do with a Title IX investigation against him... not at all....he just decided to move to Florida to be nearer his grandchildren.
What the heck, at that school??
Engler was brought in to help lessen MSU liability. Everything that has taken place since he took over has significantly increased their liability. They would have been better off hiring no one.
This is no longer a matter of preserving the reputation of MSU. There is a realistic possibility they don't financially survive.
Penn State took immediate action. They appointed a well respected truly independent investigator. They worked on resolving the cases ASAP. And they still ended up paying out $59.7 M to 26 victims. (NY Times 10/28/13) That's $2.3 M per victim.
MSU has done the exact opposite.
MSU's actions have turned these cases into larger dollars per case. And there are at least 250 plaintiffs currently.
Do the math. If they end up paying the same as PSU, that's $575 M. I would argue these cases have higher value. And there may be more potential plaintiffs down the road.
A total payment of $650-800 M is not far fetched. Plus attorney fees for their defense team.
Does a billion dollars sound crazy? Not really. I think that the university may not survive.
Hopefully, the Dean, the gymnastics coach, the AD, & the President all end up in prison. It happened at PSU & this is worse. The end is near. And they absolutely deserve all of this and more.
April 19th, 2018 at 10:56 AM ^
Again, these guys are using manure for brains.