During a special meeting held at 8 p.m. Sunday, all eight members of the university's governing board were in attendance to debate the revisions to the board’s code of ethics and conduct. The proposed changes emphasized public “loyalty” to the university and barred trustees from publicly dissenting from majority board decisions in their individual capacities.

The resolution passed 5-3, with trustees Mike Balow, Dennis Denno and Vassar dissenting. 

Trustees will not be allowed to divulge “confidential” information to an “unauthorized person” before the information is made public, according to the resolution.

In compliance with the revisions, trustees will need to sign a “statement of acknowledgement” within the next week. If a trustee chooses not to sign it, they will be met with consequences such as being blocked from MSU events that don’t require them to be present in their formal board capacity, loss of tickets to games, loss of reimbursements and the loss of university-funded legal representation. 

Trustees have until May 24, 2026 at 5 p.m. to sign and submit the required statement of acknowledgment for the revised Code of Ethics and Conduct.

'Strengthening governing standards'

“This is about governing ourselves,” trustee Sandy Pierce said of the revisions. Debates that once took place in public will now continue behind closed doors, Pierce said. 

While board chair Brianna Scott described the revisions as “strengthening governing standards,” Vassar said they serve as a warning of MSU’s past. 

“$500 million, that is what this university paid because the culture of institutional silence allowed a predator to operate in plain sight for decades,” Vassar said to the board. “That culture did not require villains, who went along, trustees who deferred, who asked no questions, administrators who protected their own, a general counsel whose office ran interference on investigations instead of supporting them, a board that treated loyal leadership as the highest virtue and accountability as an inconvenience.” 

Vassar went on to say to the trustees who would go on to approve the resolution were “building that culture again with today's vote."

Vassar said the resolution was co-authored by Scott and MSU’s General Counsel Brian Quinn. 

In April, The State News reported the university’s board was divided over allegations against Quinn after trustees Balow, Denno and Vassar raised what they called “serious concerns” about his conduct within the Office of General Counsel. 

“The instrument of demand was written by the lawyer who has a personal stake in silencing the people most likely to be investigated under it,” Vassar said. 

Public disputes 

The Quinn dossier was one of many board conflicts in recent months that have played out in the public eye. 

Trustees have opted to take their concerns with the board's decision-making process to public forums, often choosing to pen opinion pieces in major Michigan outlets despite internal pushback. 

In February, trustee Vassar published an opinion essay in Bridge Michigan protesting MSU's decision to curtail its diversity, equity and inclusion programs in response to pressures from the Trump administration, which had failed to gain the legal backing to pause federal funding at universities that continued DEI initiatives. 

“It’s time for MSU to reinstate everything it destroyed,” she wrote.

The op-ed was met with immediate resistance from other members of the board, including Guskiewicz, and university administrators, who said that the piece mischaracterized the efforts of the university. 

"Like many on our leadership team, we were disappointed by the Op Ed," Guskiewicz said at the February board meeting.

During the board’s April meeting, trustee Mike Balow said he and fellow trustees, Vassar and Dennis Denno, wanted a resolution to be added to the meeting, but that it was blocked by their colleagues. 

The resolution would have heightened transparency for MSU’s for-profit athletics enterprise Spartan Media Ventures. It would have dictated that Spartan Media Ventures be subject to Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act law and allowed trustees to view organizational documents without signing a nondisclosure agreement. 

Following this, Balow and Denno co-wrote an opinion piece in The Detroit News publicizing their frustrations. 

With the approved changes to the board's code of ethics and conduct, outward expressions of dissent from trustees will be minimized.

Sudden introduction of revisions 

Balow raised questions about the timeline of what was on the action items for the Sunday meeting. 

A press release announcing the meeting was sent at 8 a.m., just 12 hours before the meeting start time.

Michigan’s Open Meetings Act generally requires at least 18 hours' public notice for meetings, though state law gives universities broad authority to schedule special meetings.

"The MSU Board of Trustees complies with the spirit of the Open Meetings Act but is not subject to its provisions," MSU spokesperson Amber McCann wrote in an email to The State News early Sunday afternoon. 

Balow said the board was given the revised draft of the code of ethics and conduct four days ago. 

“I’m very upset with you and the General Counsel for drafting it this way and for not considering changes and for dropping it on us on Wednesday night,” Balow said. 

Before the start of discussion on the code of ethics and conduct, Scott said, “It is never the wrong time to do the right thing.”