Michigan State University was slapped with a record $4.5 million US Department of Education fine for keeping sexual predator Larry Nassar on the payroll while he was abusing gymnasts under his care.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced the penalty Thursday, calling it the largest fine ever under the Cleary Act, a federal law that requires colleges to report crimes and safeguard students.
“What happened at Michigan State University was abhorrent,” DeVos said in announcing the settlement agreement that also requires MSU to take a series of actions to correct its “sexually hostile” environment.
MSU’s provost June Youatt immediately resigned after the announcement and the university’s new president Samuel Stanley Jr. warned he’s prepared to take further personnel actions if needed.
“We failed survivors and our community,” Stanley said in pledging immediate action to address the Department of Education findings.
“In my effort to build a safe and caring campus, we must have a culture of accountability,” added Stanley, who previously led State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Along with the fine, the Department of Education released damning conclusions of its two investigations into the university. The feds found MSU failed to properly respond to complaints of sexual misconduct against Nassar and turned a blind eye to separate allegations of sexual harassment against William Strampel, the former dean of MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and Nassar’s supervisor.
Nassar is behind bars after pleading guilty to a total of 10 criminal sexual conduct charges in November 2017 between two jurisdictions. During an emotional sentencing, more than 150 accusers confronted the former USA Gymnastics doctor publicly to recall the years of abuse he once defended as medical treatment.
“The crimes for which Larry Nassar and William Strampel have been convicted are disgusting and unimaginable,” DeVos said.
Strampel was also convicted in June 2019 of willful neglect of duty and misconduct of a public official for failing to stop Nassar from seeing patients in 2014 while the university investigated a sexual misconduct complaint against him. Nassar had 249 patient visits during that time.
Strampel, however, was found not guilty of criminal sexual conduct stemming from allegations from female students that he sexually harassed, assaulted and abused his power as dean of the college.
“So too was the university’s response to their crimes. This must not happen again there or anywhere else. I continue to be heartened by the courage and resilience of the survivors.”
In May 2018, Michigan State reached a $500 million settlement with the hundreds of women and girls who were sexually abused by Nassar.
The deal included $425 million that the school will pay to the 332 current claimants and $75 million that will be set aside in a trust fund to protect against any future claims of sexual abuse by Nassar.
MSU president Lou Anna Simon resigned last year over the scandal. She faces criminal charges for allegedly lying to the police about her knowledge of a sexual assault complaint against Nassar.
The Department of Education investigators found Simon and Youatt failed to take seriously documented complaints of sexual misconduct complaints against Strampel and instead reappointed him as dean of the college.
“Administrators at the highest level of the University—the President and the Provost—had a long and disturbing history of failing to take any effective actions to address what was to become, over the course over 14 years, a torrent of reports and complaints about the Dean’s sexually harassing conduct,” the report found.