Detroit News Joins Call for Simon's Resignation
"Play it straight” is how President Lou Anna Simon says she advised her Michigan State University staff to handle allegations of sexual misconduct against a MSU physician. But Simon has not played it straight herself, choosing instead to pull a curtain over questions of culpability by university officials in the serial molestation of young girls and women at the hands of Dr. Larry Nassar.
As such, Simon has lost credibility and the confidence of many MSU stakeholders. She should step down or be removed by the board of trustees.
January 19th, 2018 at 3:49 AM ^
Wow, the local media actually took a stand for once?
I mean they did conspire to keep 3 raptists' names silent for 6 months.
This whole thing was served up on a tee and this thing should have been getting nonstop attention for months.
It is absolutely ridiculous that it has taken this long.
The local media needs to stop this pathetic protection of msu.
You can't cry from the rooftops about why msu deserves more attention and respect, then bury your head in the send when the arrests and other ugly things that take place go on there.
You can't whine and claim you want to be the big dog, and then went things get nasty, hide in the dark.
The fact that they conventiently use their national irrevelance in times of need says all you need to know.
Fucking cowards.
January 19th, 2018 at 7:30 AM ^
....and the freep is quiet, or rather making sure we don't stretch too much!
January 19th, 2018 at 7:54 AM ^
MSU fans claims the local media is all and always in UM's pocket (eg. the "Blue Wall"). UM fans think the local media is protecting and coddling MSU (protecting rapists and child molesters and the institutions that employed them is, well, a big claim).
I thought this could not be right. But then I realized... If you take the average of these two things, it equals an unbiased (or at least equally biased) media, I think?
January 19th, 2018 at 9:49 AM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 9:53 AM ^
Read it again.
January 19th, 2018 at 9:53 AM ^
to take a completely apolitical statement and twist it to try to rile people up. Speaking of "how our country got to this point."
January 19th, 2018 at 10:01 AM ^
Well, allow me to retort...
I would suggest that people like YOU, with your very limited ability to accurately interpret pretty clearly defined written positions, are what have gotten us to this point...
January 19th, 2018 at 10:05 AM ^
R.I.F.
It's fundamental yo.
January 19th, 2018 at 10:07 AM ^
Word.
January 19th, 2018 at 10:44 AM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 10:11 AM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 11:55 AM ^
Bingo. Bango. Bongo.
January 19th, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^
IIRC, two of them were in talks to merge, lowering the number of companies that control the media to 5.
January 19th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
What is the most telling. Of the 6 big companies, only 2 of them (NewsCorp & CBS) have traditional roots in news reporting/journalism. The other 4 (Comcast, Disney. Viacom, Time Warner) have their roots in entertainment. That should tell you all you need to know about the nature of "news" (cough, cough...entertainment) today.
January 19th, 2018 at 1:15 PM ^
but things weren't much different in the days of the Founders, were they? Newspapers owned by rich dudes, most of whom had chummy relationships with one political faction or another. They'd print stuff that was ghostwritten by the favored politician that slandered the disfavored politician. Despite the monopoly concern you mention, the media probably is more independent now than it was back then.
January 19th, 2018 at 12:17 PM ^
in Rupert Murdoch.
January 19th, 2018 at 12:33 PM ^
That blue wall stuff was from decades ago, no reasonable MSU fan will say that today. The local media is just flat out full of Spartan grads who spend their days shitting on Michigan. The sports radio stations and the papers have been this way since the fall of the 1130 am radio station. If you look at the way our NCAA violations for practice time and the Brendan Gibbons case were covered and compare them to the coverage of MSU's sexual assault cases you will see exactly how it is. Gibbons was never charged with a crime, and his name was destroyed in the media, and they openly accused Brady Hoke of covering up a rape. Compare that to how MSU's rape cases were covered last year, and how this case has been covered for well over a year now and try and tell me the media is equally biased.
January 19th, 2018 at 8:01 AM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 9:55 AM ^
It's about the "agenda" of the majority. That's how this whole thing works, or it's supposed to. Explain to me how it would make sense for the "media" to push "their own" agenda, if that agenda didn't line up with the majority of the population.
I wait with bated breath.
January 19th, 2018 at 10:03 AM ^
Nevermind.
Not doing internet politics anymore. Post withdrawn.
January 19th, 2018 at 12:58 PM ^
but I would debate that, from time to time, the media picks a theme they want to promote and they run with it.
Not going to give any examples on one side or the other on this blog.
January 19th, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^
summer of 2001.
Also known as The Summer of the Shark Attack!
All over the news. Nevermind that there were no more shark attacks that summer than in a typical year.
January 19th, 2018 at 1:49 PM ^
We fought a war, with no evidence, because the news papers wanted it to sell news papers. Terrorism and the the "outside group is bad" sell papers. Sound familiar? Of course I'm talking about the Spanish-American War.
Or we can talk about how the US Journalists, some of whom are the name on distinguished journalist awards, would not print accounts of terrible actions of US soldires in south asia. The troops, it is now known, tourtered men, and slaugheterd entire towns, including women and children. The evidence was there at the time but was not printed. Sound familiar? Of course I'm talking about the Philipean theatre in the Spanish-American War.
The media is a business. It's currency is access to information. Suggesting that politicians, through out history, haven't abused access for preferential coverage is dangeriously niave. (and I aint talk'en french water... OH!).
So yes, I believe the local detroit media will dig their thumbs in UM's eyes because it makes Sparty get a chubby, and UM grads will fester and point out bias. At the end of the day both sides listened. Score one for boner-pill ads!
consider the opposite. If the detroit medio dug their thumbs in MSU's eyes, UM grads wouldn't be that excited, and MSU would cry bias. Less ratings. The opposite equation works.
Bais, cyncical calculation of one's own interests, greed... what ever you want to call it, its pain to see.
<drop key board>
January 19th, 2018 at 10:08 AM ^
"Supposed to" being the key words.
January 19th, 2018 at 11:57 AM ^
That take is from a bygone era. 24/7 coverage of all things has given everyone a voice. Some of that is good. Some of it isn't.
January 19th, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 10:17 AM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
Over time the amount of media merging has increased and the number of media outlets has increased. As a result, fewer companies now own more media outlets, increasing the concentration of ownership. In 1983, 90% of US media was controlled by 50 companies; as of 2011, 90% was controlled by just 6 companies
January 19th, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^
There are truthful parts to what you are saying. If this were U of M, the President and all the power brokers who oversaw this would have been long gone by now. There is much greater intensity with the media in the State of Michigan to uncover issues at Michigan. It's the national profile school and has also gone out of it's way to claim an exceptionalism as institution. So that operates as a red x in bad times.
Plus the student body is far more activist at Michigan than it is at MSU. There would have been no deny and ignore for all this time at Michigan.
The people making decisions at MSU on this matter were either calculating about the above factors, clueless about them, or a combination of both.
In the end, they should have been savvy enough to grasp the power of another societal force at work here: the heavy involvement of Plaintiff's lawyers. Once they are involved, there is no hiding anything. And they know how to reach the media to up the value for their clients.
The apparent notion among MSU leaders that they could let this all fade via denial of responsibility is mind boggling. Right down to the offering a raise to President Simon last month.
Wow.
January 19th, 2018 at 6:05 PM ^
well said
January 19th, 2018 at 5:25 AM ^
Where is Mark Hollis hiding? And why isn't the media banging down his door?
Talk about cowards...
After hearing the testimonies, this clown needs to pay the price as well.
If she goes, he's gotta go too.
Only at MSU, would these 2 still be standing, and not a peep out of Hollis.
Where are you hiding Mark?
January 19th, 2018 at 5:50 AM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 7:49 AM ^
"Makes me wonder how many people at MSU knew and thus can’t really go after their colleagues, as they themselves would be exposed."
This is my take on why Simon, Hollis, et all, have been so silent. If one person points a finger, the accused is going to point back. I don't understand how the Michigan AG hasn't already started a top down full-on investigation of this crap. The internal jack-off report MSU did was not an investigation of the matter, it was MSU hiring a law firm to help them sort out the mess and how to deal with it. It was meant to protect MSU, not to investigate and out the perps...
Start with Simon, Hollis, and Klages. Bring up the criminal charges for being complicit in child sexual assault, and those three will sing like canaries to reduce sentencing. They have no defense...
January 19th, 2018 at 8:15 AM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 9:57 AM ^
Exactly. Schuette wants to be Governor, and he will leverage this situation to max effect. He needs something that the general public sees as a positive, he isn't letting this go.
January 19th, 2018 at 7:57 AM ^
January 19th, 2018 at 8:02 AM ^
I can't believe I am going to write this, but....
In this case, I think Hollis is probably safe, and (unless something bombshell-damning comes to light specifically about his knowledge in these cases) he should be. Remember, Nasser was not an AD employee. Nor was Holiis responsible for or qualified to monitor Nasser; he's not a medical doctor of any kind (the Dean of the school of OM and the other doctors that vouched for Nasser should be gone yesterday). If you want to say he should be responsible for Clages preventing gymnasts from accussing Nasser, as Clages was his employee, that started a decade before Hollis was AD (in 2008).
In short, I think the only way you can argue for Hollis to be fired is if you take a "the leader is responsible for everything that happens in or even just around his or her institution" position. I don't hate that idea, FYI, but I doubt it leads to Hollis getting canned in this case...
January 19th, 2018 at 9:22 AM ^
doubt very much that Hollis will survive this situation. Michigan State has tried to slow-play this situation for far too long (even using the football program "reckoning" after the Corley et. al. situation as false cover for the still unfolding Nassar investigation) and now any actual splicing they could have done in terms of exactly who bears responsibility will fall on deaf ears.
If they had treated this situation will full transparency from the very start, I agree, it is likely that there really is not any connection to Hollis in terms of what he actually did or didn't do. But they haven't, and now it is a true full-blown coverup that involves the athletic department and its coaches, trainers, etc. Michigan State is going to have to clean house. I think both Simon and Hollis will resign or be fired within 7 days.
Frankly, he really needs to. Michigan State is actually a good State school and has some really good programs, beautiful campus, and some really good people. But people who pay attention locally know that their athletic program is really, really shady. The number of events involving their football and basketball team, some involving sexual assault, that have been silenced or swept away is baffling. LJ Scott got arrested this year after seven occurences of driving on a suspended license, but then the situation was "resolved" the next day and he played against Indiana with London out with an injury and nobody blinked.
That kind of thing happens all the time at MSU and has for some time. MSU fans and alums have tricked themselves into believing that all of that doesn't amount to something bigger. It does. Not throwing shade, but seriously look what has transpired with a ton of their former basketball players after they graduate. There is an actual pattern of deviance and failure to take accountablity. Even their "success stories" (Draymond Green) are getting arrested for figths, kicking people in the nuts. It is a real thing.
Michigan State needs a fresh start and a path to be much better than the currently are.
January 19th, 2018 at 9:23 AM ^
You may very well be right, and I have no idea what the future holds. But in your reply, you did not mention a single thing Hollis himself actually did that is a "fire-able offense," except just being a part of the situation. I think Simon is gone because of the revelations in the News yesterday (saying she directly received word of this case long ago), her tone-deafness in not coming to all the victim statements, her awful leadership in the "it's impossible to stop a guy like Nasser" statements, etc. Those are tangible things, and leaders have been fired for far less. But what is the equivalent of those things for Hollis? I still think he survivies this.
By the way, how did you like the new taco restaurant?
January 19th, 2018 at 9:26 AM ^
couldn't find it. Looked everywhere. Raul and I just went to Taco Bell instead. They have a killer Nacho Bell Grande.
January 19th, 2018 at 9:30 AM ^
Keep looking. It's Raul's restaurant, actually. It offers fresh, healthy Mexican options for the target market of 45 year old former trophy wives...
January 19th, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^
didn't mention it, but he was blasted. Tequila, pot, blow. He called me to pick him up from the strip club and he was sitting past out at the entrance when I got there. Have never seen him like that before. Don't know what is going on but he didn't seem like himself.
January 19th, 2018 at 1:18 PM ^
think Hollis is a dead man walking. There was a title ix complaint in 2014 against Nasser, but the Gymnastics program kept referring girls to see him after. Wouldn't an AD know about a title ix complaint and investigation of a doctor on staff? If he didn't know, isn't he still responsible to have known?
January 19th, 2018 at 11:14 AM ^
My problem with this argument is the MSU Athletic Department employed coaches (and trainers if they are under the perview of the Athletic Department) that ignored victim's claims AND continued to funnel female athletes TO Nassar.
Gymastics coach sends girls to Nassar repeatedly after being told by her athletes that this is happening.
There's a women's softball player who went as well.
I personally know a female rower who was treated by Nassar as well (for a rib injury so it didn't go too far).
That's 3 different sports coaches who all sent their athletes to Nassar.
So it seems like an institutional norm for the MSU Athletic Department to send female athletes to a serial molester. Not that they all knew what Nassar was doing, but you can't tell me the head of that department gets off scott free after something like that.
Hollis is responsible for the athletes on a macro level and their coaches as well. Hollis (by extension of the Athletic Department as a whole) employed these coaches and should be carrying Simon's bags out the door with her.