Although the Nassar documents reveal a troubled past, they aren’t a reflection of MSU today, university leaders say. The State News met with MSU’s president and leaders of campus programs aimed at preventing sexual misconduct to discuss how the university has changed since Nassar’s abuse thrust it into national scrutiny.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has asked Michigan’s attorney general to advise her on demands that she remove two controversial members of Michigan State University’s board.
In 1953, the MSU Corn Foundation installed a plaque commemorating Professor William Beal’s pioneering work in hybridizing maize. This plaque, which still remains in the Beal Botanical Garden today, celebrates Beal as the first person to cross corn, increasing the yield of 53%. But these claims are untrue. And in 2022, the Beal Botanical Garden staff began to address these falsehoods with a sign.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer, alongside Board of Trustees candidate Rebecca Bahar-Cook, spoke at an event hosted by the MSU College Democrats. They endorsed the Harris-Walz campaign, spoke of the importance of voting and encouraged students to get involved with the election.
Pro-Palestinian students and supporters gathered at Beaumont Tower Monday evening to commemorate one year since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and reflect on the lives lost in the year since. The event served as a space for attendees to remember and reflect on the more than 40,000 people who have been killed in Gaza and surrounding areas, and to reiterate demands for MSU to divest from Israel.
It was $1 per pet at the Rock on Thursday where student organizers in the MSU Leader Dog Club brought their tail-wagging friends to help with fundraising.
Senior Vice President for Student Life and Engagement Vennie Gore apologized for his 2018 comments that minimized the abuse of disgraced ex-university doctor Larry Nassar. In an email to students, he wrote “Sometimes I get it right, and sometimes I don’t. That day, I did not get it right.”
The Lebanese Student Association held a bracelet making social event in solidarity with those in Lebanon Wednesday evening.
The former chair of Michigan State University’s Faculty Senate, Jack Lipton, is suing the Board of Trustees. He argues that Trustees Rema Vassar and Dennis Denno retaliated against him for comments he made criticizing one of them and incorrectly characterized the comments as racist.
The Office for Education Abroad will be hosting its annual Global Learning Expo on Wednesday, displaying hundreds of programs spanning over 60 countries in the Breslin Center.
Protestors gathered outside of Wharton Center at MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz's investiture event, demanding divestment. Holding signs that read "STOP FUNDING GENOCIDE" and "BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS," protesters chanted "Kevin, Kevin you can’t hide, you are funding genocide."
In a ceremony officially recognizing him as the 22nd president of Michigan State University, Kevin Guskiewicz promised expansions of student success programs and research initiatives, announced plans to change general education requirements and emphasized his commitment to civil discourse.
The Associated Students of Michigan State University called on MSU to take accountability following the release of the long-secret Nassar documents at the general assembly meeting last night. The general assembly also elected a new vice president of government affairs and passed bills advocating for a meal swipe donation program and the Stop Campus Hazing Act.
During the Larry Nassar scandal, documents show MSU trustees struggled to assert the board's independence from an administration under intense scrutiny.
Throughout the Nassar scandal, university lawyers and communications staff often briefed leaders on potential crises they feared would leak — wide-ranging lists that included everything from high-profile sexual misconduct allegations to a controversial maple syrup vendor.
Text messages were deleted. Investigatory files went missing. Documents were withheld. Thousands of recently released documents reveal that MSU's records-keeping, when it was needed the most, was laden with mistakes.
Long-witheld documents reveal the lengths MSU went to try to quash legislation aimed at preventing a repeat of the Nassar scandal.
Revealed within thousands of long witheld documents is a fuller picture of William Strampel, the former dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine and Larry Nassar's former supervisor.
In a series of secretive decisions, MSU canceled an art opening and added a disclaimer to the exhibition. The university later admitted it had acted in response to a complaint over a piece depicting a protest in support of Palestine. The closed-door discussions have sparked debate over censorship and academic freedom on campus.
MSU's internal communications throughout the Nassar saga — contained in 6,000 pages of documents released last week by the attorney general's office — show a constant push and pull between the PR pros tasked with salvaging the university's image, and the lawyers tasked with avoiding a large settlement.