Michigan State achieved a lot under President Simon's leadership, and I don't think LAKS was involved in any sort of cover up, but the way she handled this crisis since 2016 has been horrible. (1/7)
Instead of rightfully trying to support survivors whose lives have been damaged by a monster employed by MSU, the entire strategy was based on limiting liability in a civil trial. (2/7)
MSU will still need to pay the survivors in a civil suit, but we've now also done major harm to the prestige and credibility of the school as a place to learn and grow in safe environment. (3/7)
Instead of rising to the occasion, MSU's leadership failed to provide an appropriate response even with 16 months of lead time since the Indy Star story broke! That breakdown lies at the foot of the president, and it cost her her job. (4/7)
I'd also like to point out that all our problems aren't solved with her resignation. Remember that the same BoT that embarrassed themselves with every statement they made over the last year gets to name her interim and permanent successor. (5/7)
This shows that many elected university trustees are woefully unprepared to handle situations like this and are often selected because of their party loyalty and name recognition. Voters basically ignore these elections and they get the representation they deserve for it. (6/7)
MSU will never be the same. LAKS isn't going to be the only person to go down. We need to follow through on the commitment to help survivors and make sure this never happens again. When the dust settles I hope that MSU can go back to being a place that we're all proud of. (7/7)
