MSU Board of Trustees continue to shoot themselves in the foot over the lack of transparency.
The fallout of the Larry Nassar scandal continues to haunt Michigan State University. The latest is the dismissal of former dean of the business school, Sonjay Gupta. who allegedly resigned prior to being fired for not reporting a sexual harassment incident as required by the state following the Nassar inquiry. Today, per the Detroit News, a Michigan State University alum and donor threatened Friday during the Board of Trustees meeting to stop giving money to the university over its handling of the forced resignation of Gupta and an investigative probe into the matter. Students, faculty, alumni and community members have been calling on the board to publicly release a report about the Gupta resignation by Los Angeles-based law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. The trustees heard preliminary findings during a Thursday closed work session. None of the findings have been shared publicly.
The trustees have struggled with transparency throughout the scandal, which has led directly to the resignation/dismissal of three presidents in less than five years.
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The chances of MSU Board of Trustees reinstating the men’s and women’s swimming teams appear to be dead in the water. Michigan State trustee Melanie Foster said at Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting that there is “not a viable path” for reinstatement, despite cautious optimism among program advocates in recent months. Foster cited the continued financial restraints, plus the lack of a competition swimming pool. Michigan State is building a $154 million recreation and wellness center, with the first phase set to open late in 2025 or early in 2026, that has options to include a 50-meter competition swimming pool, but a pool isn’t in the current plans for the first phase, university officials said Friday. Foster also said the university does not want to support an athletic program on the back of student fees, and student fees will be used to fund the new recreation center.
This is a shame because swimmers are the epitome of what a student athlete should be. Swimming teams consistently have the top GPA’s of all sports. Their schedules are so demanding, swimmers quickly learn the importance of time management. The discipline that allows them to spend lonely hours in the pool is the same discipline that allows them to stay focused on their class work.
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Taking a page out of the Oakland County prosecutor playbook in last year’s Oxford High School shooting, multiple media organizations are reporting prosecutors in suburban Chicago charged the father of a man accused of killing seven people at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill., with felonies on Friday, claiming that he acted recklessly when he signed onto his son’s application for a gun ownership permit.
The seven counts of reckless conduct filed against the father, Robert Crimo Jr., mark at least the second time in recent years that a parent of an accused mass killer has faced charges for their actions leading up to the attack, and it could signal increased willingness by prosecutors to seek punishment for family members who may have ignored warning signs or provided access to weapons.
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You can tell it is getting close to Christmas. Leah has the living room filled with stocking gifts as she sorts through what goes to who. It is a thing of beauty to watch. They will need to be picked up and moved or completely wrapped by Saturday afternoon before Katy’s kids arrive for an overnight on Saturday.
I am looking forward to taking Alaina and Nolan to the Michigan basketball game on Saturday and taking them to play racquetball Sunday morning. Kaylen is looking forward to making pillow forts with Leah while we are at the game. I am sure I will be exhausted Sunday evening, but it will be a good exhausted.
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With the lull in the schedule for Michigan football and basketball this week, I have read more about the Lions this week than I have ever read before. This is what happens when the Lions show any sign of life. There is 65 years of pent-up excitement ready to be released at the first sign of hope for a championship run.
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Quote of the Day: “Somebody is getting a convertible that wasn’t expected.” An Ann Arbor firefighter after the top of a Jeep carried by a car hauler was removed after striking an I-94 underpass Thursday in Ann Arbor. Firefighters found a car hauler had collided with the overpass bridge and the top of a new Jeep ripped off and in the roadway. The car hauler did not stop.
Orchid of the Day: To those who continue to speak at the MSU Board of Trustee meetings demanding transparency.
Onion of the Day: A 50-foot-high, 264,000-gallon cylindrical tank called AquaDom, housed in a Radisson in the German capital, spectacularly collapsed, sending waves of water through the building and onto the street. So much for German engineering.
Question of the Day: After yesterday’s important announcement, does anything the former president do or say surprise you any more?
Video of the Year: