The MSU Board of Trustees first meeting of 2025 is interrupted by dozens of pro Palestinian protestors demanding a resolution to an ongoing standoff between protestors and university leadership at the Hannah Administration building in East Lansing, Michigan on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has decided not to remove Trustees Rema Vassar and Dennis Denno after the Board of Trustees voted to refer Vassar and Denno to the governor for consideration of their removal from the board in March 2024, according to letters from the Office of the Governor.
The board vote followed an MSU Faculty Senate vote for their removal in October 2023. The MSU Academic Congress also voted to support the Board's decision shortly after their referral to their governor.
The two letters addressed to Faculty Senate Chair Angela Wilson and Secretary for the University Council Victoria Nelson stated that the request to remove the two Trustees was denied.
The votes from the two faculty-governed bodies came after an outside investigation found the trustees violated board bylaws and code of ethics by interfering in university affairs and using student groups to orchestrate attacks against colleagues.
MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz called the actions "concerning" in March 2024, but further expressed that he was assured that the board was committed to following "good governance principles."
The fallout of the findings saw Vassar resigning as Board Chair and both Trustees Vassar and Denno being stripped of their duties on the board. The decision was then left up to Whitmer, who is given broad power to remove Trustees from article five, section ten of the state constitution.
Legal experts previously told The State News that the findings in question did indeed warrant removal under the constitution.
"The denial of the request by no means indicates a condoning of the conduct alleged in the referral," Deputy Legal Counsel Amy Lishinski wrote in the letters. "Rather it only means that other considerations related to the Governor’s removal authority weigh against removal under these circumstances at this time."
Trustee Vassar, Trustee Denno and former Faculty Senate Chair Jack Lipton were unavailable for comment at time of publication.
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