MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon addresses the board as professor Sue Carter, Steering Committee chairperson, looks on Sept. 10 in the board room of the Administration Building. Khoa Nguyen/ The State News
MSU journalism professor Sue Carter is under investigation for an alleged inappropriate sexual relationship by the Office of Institutional Equity, or OIE.
Spokesperson Jason Cody confirmed the investigation via email but declined to offer more information.
"This comes from 26 years ago," Carter said.
The woman, Ellen Fedon-Keyt, was not an MSU student at the time of the relationship. As a result, Carter said MSU's OIE has no right to investigate the matter.
Fedon-Keyt said she did not remember the exact timeline of the relationship because it was so long ago.
"After 20+ years, I truly can’t remember if I was actively enrolled in a class with Sue or not when the sexual relationship started; to me, she was always my professor," Fedon-Keyt said in a email.
Carter said she has not spoken to the woman since 1993.
Fedon-Keyt confirmed this and said in a letter sent to MSU that after she left the relationship she "subsequently avoided any contact with Sue."
Carter resigned from her role as the MSU Athletic Faculty Representative on Jan. 24.
She said in her letter that “as both professor and priest, I am profoundly saddened by Michigan State University’s public posture and seemingly callous regard for these girls and women," Carter said in her resignation letter, referencing MSU's handling of the ex-MSU and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar's cases.
Her letter also said after the Nassar cases, she can "no longer be a bystander" to university athletics.
Fedon-Keyt said Carter's letter was what inspired her to come forward.
"When I saw her face in the paper and read her interview, I felt physically ill as the memories and realizations washed over me; she has had access to university students all of these years," Fedon-Keyt said in the letter. "She is perceived as a leader."
Carter refuted these claims, saying there is no reason for the case to proceed.
"While I'm profoundly sorry for the harm I caused her, there's no basis to go forward," Carter said. "This is someone who did not have the ethics to contact me."
Since OIE is investigating the case, no details will be released, Cody said.
"Truly, Sue Carter is a hypocrite and should not be one to speak of other’s (sic) failures," Fedon-Keyt said in the letter. "To borrow words from her letter of resignation: I am profoundly saddened by Sue Carter’s public posture and seemingly callous disregard for girls and women."
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