MSU President Lou Anna Simon Resigns

msulogo2015-9
msulogo2015-9

Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon is out. She submitted her resignation last night to the MSU Board of Trustees following the sentencing of former university and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar for sexually assaulting women and girls for 20 years. Simon letter says “to the survivors, I can never say enough that I am so sorry that a trusted, renowned physician was really such an evil, evil person who inflicted such harm under the guise of medical treatment.” She notes she was planning to retire in December 2016, but stayed on after the Nassar scandal broke. Calls for her resignation had come from the likes of US Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, state House Speaker Tom Leonard, state Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, state Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, and two MSU trustees, Dianne Byrum and Mitch Lyons.

Nassar was sentenced yesterday in Lansing to up to 175 years in prison for the sexual assaults, with that sentence to be served after his 60-year term in federal prison for child pornography possession. Over 150 survivors took the stand during a unique seven-day sentencing hearing, ripping into Nassar, MSU officials, and leaders from USA Gymnastics for turning a blind eye to their claims of abuse for years.