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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOTL: Michigan State secrets extend far beyond Larry Nassar case
http://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/22214566/pattern-denial-inaction-information-suppression-michigan-state-goes-larry-nassar-case-espnBut an Outside the Lines investigation has found a pattern of widespread denial, inaction and information suppression of such allegations by officials ranging from campus police to the Spartan athletic department, whose top leader, Mark Hollis, announced his retirement on Friday. The actions go well beyond the highly publicized case of former MSU athletic physician Larry Nassar.
Over the past three years, MSU has three times fought in court -- unsuccessfully -- to withhold names of athletes in campus police records. The school has also deleted so much information from some incident reports that they were nearly unreadable. In circumstances in which administrators have commissioned internal examinations to review how they have handled certain sexual violence complaints, officials have been selective in releasing information publicly. In one case, a university-hired outside investigator claimed to have not even generated a written report at the conclusion of his work. And attorneys who have represented accusers and the accused agree on this: University officials have not always been transparent, and often put the school's reputation above the need to give fair treatment to those reporting sexual violence and to the alleged perpetrators.
Even MSU's most-recognizable figures, football coach Mark Dantonio and basketball coach Tom Izzo, have had incidents involving their programs, Outside the Lines has found.
Faux pas
(14,690 posts)hardly covers it.
Pathwalker
(6,598 posts)media has treated this like just boys being boys. Pissing on sidewalks, hit and runs, sexual assaults, brandishing guns, etc... Nothing to see here, move along, now.
Tbear
(488 posts)I am astonished that college students pee on the sidewalks, especially an 18 year old elite athlete that has never been on their own (just like the other 18 year old students).
We should jail them all and crush their futures because they have not yet learned their personal ratio of beer intake to "I better pee now".
Where is that dripping sarcasm emoji when I need it?
Maybe you shouldn't live in East Lansing if you are so appalled by young collegians finding their way.
On the other hand, sexual assault is not allowed in any way shape or form. If the MSU athletic department has been covering this up, they need to step down.
I have always taken pride in Tom and Mark for winning the right way. I would be heartbroken if I have been deceived.
Go green and show us you are clean!
mythology
(9,527 posts)Izzo didn't fire a student assistant coach who punched a woman in the face. Same assistant coach was accused of participating in a gang rape a few months later. Fortunately such things don't get in the way of big time athletics and the matter was dealt with internally by the basketball team. Clearly an effective approach.
2 basketball players who were accused of rape, had their on campus housing moved as a result, but MSU didn't suspend the players, nor did they start a Title IX investigation as required by law.
Dantonio dealt with a sexual assault claim against one football player by "having him tell his mom", which if he's as scummy as every other rapist was likely some version of we were both drunk and made a mistake, or she had a short skirt, or she changed her mind afterward or some such nonsense.
MSU sued ESPN to attempt to avoid giving them records on the pathetic "investigations". MSU was laughed out of court.
Big time college athletics needs to be nuked from orbit and started over.
Hekate
(90,793 posts)...are also (according to the DUer who said s/he is a local) treated like no big deal.
That okay with you?
GusBob
(7,286 posts)Can you read the English language? Maybe you shouldn't represent MSU and East Lansing.
Read the article from OTL. MSU is a shithole of criminal athletes, coaches , corrupt police and administrators, and worthless ignorant athlete worshipping fans.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,431 posts)GusBob
(7,286 posts)MSU athletes can whip out their dicks, or act like dicks, whenever they want.
crazycatlady
(4,492 posts)NCDem777
(458 posts)IluvPitties
(3,181 posts)Johnny2X2X
(19,114 posts)Absolute garbage article that is dishonest and distorts every incident it refers to.
MSU handled each of these situations by the book, unlike the Nassar situation.
For instance. The lady in the interview said the football coach handled an assault case internally by talking to a players mom. Not true. The police informed the coach that a player had been accused, the player was suspended, then the charges were dropped. The coach talked to the player and decided to kick him off the team anyways and made the player tell his mother why he was kicked off. None of that is in the article though.
This article is garbage, dont fall for it. The Nassar situation was horrific, but these other coaches have nothing to do with it. ESPN is looking for clicks.
Tbear
(488 posts)Let's see how it plays out, and like I said before, if anyone in the administration is complicit they should be charged.
The Nasser is horrific.
It doesn't mean everyone is in on it.
Anyone who knew and didn't act, fuck'em.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,431 posts)And, more importantly, why its taken so long to get involved.
NCAA president Mark Emmert was specifically alerted in November 2010 six months after he was hired as the organization's president to 37 reports involving Michigan State athletes sexually assaulting women.
Kathy Redmond, the founder of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, provided The Athletic with a copy of the letter she sent to Emmert urging him to better protect women with new, stronger gender violence policy measures.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,431 posts)Amid all those horrible details and all the broader malpractice, one strangeness stands out. Its a meeting that former Michigan State president Lou Anna Simon had with Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and where that meeting fell relative to when DeVos federal agency rolled back rules mandating that universities had to investigate (as well as try to prevent) sexual assault and gender violence.
Sept. 20, 2017: Lou Anna Simon meets with Betsy DeVos. You can even see a picture here of them chatting.
Sept. 22, 2017: Obama-era Title IX guidance is withdrawn
Oct. 10, 2017: Michigan State asks to have federal monitoring ended
Now, its worth pointing out that those rollbacks didnt stop the federal government from looking into just what the hell was going on at Michigan State. It also didnt stop the government from rejecting that Oct. 10 request. While were doing caveats, it makes sense that DeVos would be talking to college presidents, including Simon, right before making a big decision on Title IX.
But it is worth remembering, as Simon continues to express shock at her institutions repeated failure to stop convicted serial abuser Larry Nassar, that she had no problem openly aligning herself with a woman who has some pretty crazy ideas about education, and always said she would gut Title IX. Its notable, but it might not be surprising. Simon, after all, let the DeVos family donate more than $10 million for a university research building at Michigan State. You are, as the saying goes, the company you keep.
Johnny2X2X
(19,114 posts)She was head of a big university. She has to do her job if that includes meeting with the Education Secretary. Simon is no fan of DeVos or Trump.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,431 posts)past two decades.