Vassar had her middle finger raised during a special Zoom meeting on March 3 in which she and fellow trustee Dennis Denno were censured, stripped of their duties and referred to the governor for potential removal by the rest of the board.

Vassar insisted the gesture was not intentional. She said she instinctively uses her middle finger for many everyday activities, such as texting and adjusting her glasses.

“The MSU board has serious matters that should demand our attention as trustees, and I will remain focused on the safety, belongingness, and success of ALL of our students,” she wrote in a statement to The State News.

The meeting during which Vassar made the gesture was held to discuss the results of an outside investigation into board impropriety, which found that Vassar and Denno interfered in university affairs, accepted gifts from donors and used students to orchestrate a campaign against rivals, among other things. Vassar has since called the investigation “unsupported and profoundly flawed.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is currently weighing whether the actions outlined in the report warrant the trustees’ removal. The conclusion of the investigation into Vassar’s gesture adds another for her to consider; a copy of the findings were sent to Whitmer’s office for her review “as she deliberates any next steps regarding Trustee Vassar,” the report said.

Investigators determined the gesture met the Wikipedia definition of “middle finger.”

Vassar made the gesture for prolonged periods of time while trustees Brianna Scott and Dianne Byrum were speaking, the office reported.

Scott wrote a public letter in October 2023 alleging Vassar bullied colleagues and interfered in university affairs, which spurred the larger investigation that recommended Vassar’s removal. Byrum supported Scott at the time.

Investigators “noted no display of Trustee Vassar’s middle finger” in prior meeting recordings they reviewed, according to their report.

Senior members of the Office of Audit, Risk and Compliance, or OARC, also interviewed Vassar for the investigation in April. She denied making an obscene gesture but said “that she did not intend to offend anyone and apologized,” according to the report.

Vassar will be provided with “educational opportunities” and training about trustee responsibilities outlined in the board’s code of ethics, the report said.

The investigation into the gesture was then announced at the board’s April 12 meeting. Vassar resigned as board chair days after the impropriety investigation was released, and hours before the March 3 meeting. 

“If true, the board condemns those actions," current board chair Dan Kelly said at the time. "The board is supportive of OARC completing its review and any recommendations or potential corrective actions it deems to be in alignment with its findings.”