The filing said MSU already "did what it was lawfully permitted to do" when it fired Tucker for "engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior" with Tracy. Now, with her lawsuit against MSU, "Tracy seeks to transform Tucker’s termination (which she once credited with bringing her ‘tears of relief’) into her own multi-million-dollar windfall."

Jones Day, the firm representing the Board of Trustees in the litigation, was previously brought in to independently investigate whether someone associated with the university, including the board, leaked the existence of the investigation into Tucker or Tracy’s identity. 

That probe was unable to conclude that someone within MSU leaked information about the Tucker investigation, and found no evidence that any trustee knew Tracy’s identity as the complainant before her name became public. It did, however, note that Trustee Dennis Denno did not cooperate with the investigation — a revelation Tracy has since suggested means he can't be fully exonerated of wrongdoing. 

University spokesperson Amber McCann declined to comment on the filing.

Tracy’s original complaint was filed June 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. The Board of Trustees, as well as Trustees Dennis Denno and Rema Vassar, are named as defendants in their personal and official capacities.

Trustees Denno and Vassar did not respond to request to comment.

Tracy, represented by Lansing-based attorney Karen Truszkowski, said in the original complaint that MSU violated its Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct policies when a trustee allegedly disclosed her name to the press, and in so doing, deprived her of due process rights in the investigation. 

However, MSU now counters that a state university's failure to follow its own internal rules doesn't necessarily implicate concerns about constitutionally protected due process rights: “(Tracy) alleges that Defendants have deprived her of due process rights she does not actually have..." the lawsuit said. 

MSU's motion also challenges Tracy’s claim that the university breached an agreement with her by refusing to compensate her for a cancelled speaking engagement. The filing includes an email exchange in which Tracy declines to accept a $10,000 payment from the university to resolve the breach-of-contract claim.

It furthermore questions Tracy's decision to name Vassar and Denno as individual defendants. While Tracy's complaint singles them out, and alludes to their involvement in the alleged leak, MSU said they can't be legally separated from the entire board. 

Truszkowski declined to comment on MSU's filing. Terri Chase and Andrew Clopton, the Jones Day attorneys representing MSU, did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication. 

The motion to dismiss Tracy's lawsuit is the latest development in a years-long saga involving MSU, Tracy and Tucker.

In December 2022, Tracy, a rape survivor and advocate, reported to the university that Tucker sexually harassed her while she was working as a consultant for the football team. MSU fired Tucker for cause months later, in September 2023, days after USA Today published a report that revealed the existence of the investigation as well as Tracy's identity. 

After that news broke, Tucker claimed that the relationship was consensual; Tracy then filed a lawsuit against Tucker in April 2024 saying that characterization was false and defamatory. The State News reported in March that Tracy's suit against Tucker was at a standstill because Tucker could not be located.

In July 2024, Tucker filed a lawsuit alleging that MSU leaders wrongfully fired him in an attempt to protect their reputations. 

Tucker also filed a notice of intent to sue the university for his defense fees in Tracy’s defamation suit, arguing that he is entitled to a university-provided defense since the suit focuses on his conduct as an MSU employee.