Gymnasts call for investigation into MSU complicity with Larry Nassar
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/11/21/nassar-…
The Detroit News has a prominent story regarding a push by several gymnasts calling for an investigation into MSU's apparent complicity with Larry Nassar regarding his history of reported sexual abuse stretching back to 1997. This story does not get as much press as the Jerry Sandusky / Joe Paterno / Penn State atrocities, but it's just about as awful. Based on sheer numbers, its worse, but how do you really quantify such things. (What we don't know is how far past Kathie Klages the information went. But I also for the life of me can't understand how any pelvic "procedure" would ever occur without a female nurse present.)
Several gymnasts affected by the Larry Nassar / Kathie Klages / Michigan State scandal are making exactly that point as Nassar approaches a plea and a sentence of 25-40 years. (Gabby Douglas recently came forward to relay that she, too, had been abused.) One question the women are asking is why the MSU equivalent of the Freeh Report has not been released to the public.
It's a horrible look for MSU, and rightfully so. Nassar is a rapist and pedophile, and MSU seems to have ignored evidence of the atrocities that were going on at the hands of their "esteemed" professor. It's a public institution, answerable to its students, faculty, and the State of Michigan. So putting some sunshine on MSU's failure to address the situation is overdue. A couple of quotes, but read the whole article:
“What are the enablers going to do in response to this?” [Larissa] Boyce continued. “Are they going to be held accountable? That is a huge question in my mind. MSU knew back in 1997 but I was told that I was wrong. Are they going to come forward and accept the responsibility they had by turning a blind eye or being culpable to allowing this to happen for so long?”
“We don’t have answers about why (MSU officials) aren’t being held accountable like they were at Penn State,” Boyce said. “What’s different? Is it because we’re girls?”
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:15 AM ^
I think that some of the difference between the Sandusky and Nassar scandals has to do with the fact that Penn State football and Joe Paterno were/are pretty big deals in the sports world. Your average person on the street knows who Joe Paterno was.
Kathie Klages? To be honest, I have to remind myself how to spell her name - before this atrocity came to light she was pretty damned obscure. The same goes for MSU gymnastics - apart from Michigan, UGA, and a few other programs, only sports diehards know about MSU's gymnastics program or their (waste of oxygen) ex-coach.
That shouldn't change things a bit, but it does in the public eye. I'm hoping these women succeed in their efforts to get some real answers as to how this happened at MSU, and how to prevent it from happening there (or any other school, including Michigan) again.
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:55 AM ^
The Harvey Weinstein thing was the same thing. Everyone knows that there is sexual harassment/abuse in Hollywood. They've made movies about it. There's a whole genre of porn about it. But when famous hollywood stars came out as having been abused it was suddenly a big deal. There has been a decent amount of reporting here, but no one really cares about nameless gymnasts. Gaby Douglas may have the name recognition to make this a bigger story, but unless it is Mary Lou Retton, there won't be much traction. ..and frankly with everything coming out of hollywood and washington, people have begun to zone out. (at least I have.)
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:24 AM ^
I don't wish a Penn State style atrocity on anyone, even MSU. I hope there was nothing systemic about how they treated Nassar, what they knew, and when they knew it. That said, if it is proven they knew and covered up - there's a place in Hell for them next to Paterno.
Regardless, MSU is bound to be tainted a bit by this.
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^
Boyce's comments are unfortunate.
Comparing the situation to Penn State just drags those victims though the mud yet again. This isn't about gender Boyce. It's about accountability. Try to stay on target.November 22nd, 2017 at 9:28 AM ^
to alert the authorities on Nasser who completely whiffed on their ethical and moral responsibilities, including at least one nurse who allowed Nasser to order her out of the examination room so he could molest the girls in private.
It's equally mind-boggling how badly MSU has mishandled things after Nasser's crimes were brought to light. It's as if MSU learned absolutely nothing from how PSU (mis)handled things.
November 22nd, 2017 at 3:36 PM ^
against Nassar was made in 1997. Almost 20 years of neglect on MSU's part. They need to fry.
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:37 AM ^
Daughter is a professional ballerina and travelled up from Cleveland to seek treatment from Nassar for several years and is obviously very concerned over this news. I asked him once if he had spoken to his daughter about him and he said he had and she claimed nothing innapropriate ever happened. He also said he was an amazing Doctor who helped her very much (she had knee and back problems) and was shocked when he heard this was going on.
Obviously he's hoping beyond hope his daughter is being truthful and not holding back. But he''ll never really know one way or the other and that's got to be extremely worrisome.
November 22nd, 2017 at 11:11 AM ^
the girl is probably being truthful. There is bound to be some percentage of the girls who the sicko left alone. If Nassar sensed that a potential victim was not as vulnerable as the others....maybe a couple of years older.... or she might resist against him, or speak out, that would be someone he'd leave alone.
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:30 AM ^
That's how Nassar was able to do a pelvic procedure without a female nurse present. Predators are also very good at taking advantage of whatever opportunities they have, and at moving into positions where they have more opportunities.
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:39 AM ^
That's part of it. The other part is that a young female gymnast is pretty vulnerable.
Many are used to taking abuse from coaches, and nearly all really competitive ones are laser focused on advancing their careers through a relatively short window of time. Getting sidetracked by getting into a dispute with a (then-) respected doctor who is associated deeply with US Gymnastics? It's a path guaranteed to distract from the overall mission of succeeding at their sport. (And most of Nassar's victims were too young at the time to be certain that they were being molested.)
Which is precisely why we need adults to be attentive to these situations. Exactly how things broke down at MSU is important not only for Nassar's victims, but to help MSU and other programs learn how to implement policies to avoid future incidents.
November 22nd, 2017 at 10:28 AM ^
MSU was aware of sexual predation claims against Nassar and instituted a policy that he could not see female athletes alone. However, he asked the "chaperones" to turn their backs to his "procedures" and carried on as if nothing had changed.
This daylight about to be shone on this crap is about to nuke MSU.
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:39 AM ^
apparently there is a chiropractic adjustment that involves sticking fingers inside the patient. Nassar's MO was to use that obscure adjustment on everyone. Because he's a sick fuck.
No offense to any MGoChiropractors. I just don't think they're legit doctors.
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:43 AM ^
This should be fun to watch...
Chiropractors are physical therapists with delusions of grandeur
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:51 AM ^
Nassar is an osteopath, not a chiropractor. Osteopaths are full-fledged doctors with similar rigorous education, residencies, etc. (There is a chiropractic element to the osteopathic theory, of course.)
No disrespect to chiropractors here. I'm just noting that Nassar is not one of their herd.
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:54 AM ^
DOs are doctors. Chiropractors - meh.
November 22nd, 2017 at 9:56 AM ^
I guess I just assumed. When I read the specific allegations I went to see if he had any medical justification for what he was doing. What I found was a chiropractic "adjustment" that sounded a lot like what he was doing.
November 22nd, 2017 at 11:33 AM ^
DOs do manipulative medicine like Chiropractors. DOs have more education and don't think vaccines are evil.
November 22nd, 2017 at 2:17 PM ^
They don't think that essential oils can cure cancer or that GMOs are the handiwork of a government conspiracy to kill us all and fund the AMA.
Too far?
November 22nd, 2017 at 10:25 AM ^
My late father was a UM Dentist (DDS class of 1950) and if you wanted to see the old man get REAL fired up all you had to do was say the word Chiropractor in his presence and infer they were somehow doctors. My dad used to say Chiropractors are doctors in the same way witch doctors are doctors and do about as much good for people.
November 22nd, 2017 at 10:01 AM ^
MSU should absolutely be held accountable - including the AD and school president. The unfortunate thing here is that gymnastics doesn't catch the public eye. Had this involved the football team or mens bball team, it would be every bit as publicly damning as PSU was. Probably a lesser extent for womens bball, but that would still recieve more attention than this is getting. It's shameful, really, that the media focuses on only bad news. It's even more shameful that the focus is centered on popularity contests.
I really do hope that MSU gets dragged through a public ringer for this.
November 22nd, 2017 at 10:16 AM ^
I have no idea about MSU's complicity. So I don't want to pass on them, but...
The Weinstein / Moore situations tell us that men in power totally get away with this, whether with kids or college girls or even rich adult women. Their male colleagues, and even sometimes female, tend not to believe these stories by females (like, someone in the news last NIGHT said that about Moore, gee who was that...), and of course, $$$ speaks volumes over potential indiscretions -- so if an organization thinks they are booking coin from some guy, they will be strongly disincentivized to believe allegations.
Maybe 2017 is a seachange in culture about this. Or maybe this is a very temporary thing.
I'm curious -- would any male here admit, under the relative anonymity of MGoBlog, that he has abused his privilege/authority with women this way? I am clean on that, so I suppose it's easy for me to ask.
November 22nd, 2017 at 10:21 AM ^
the other day who said the Nassar scandal is much large than that at Ped St, MSU has been in hiding and not responding to FOIA requests under the umbrage of FIRPA, and that ESPN is about to blow the top off it with a comprehensive expose.
This very well-placed person told me that few constituencies in Sparty's organization will go untouched in terms of their "ignorance is bliss" approach.
MSU is facing a "mother of all" series of lawsuits and the shit is about to hit the fan. Prepare for a lot of resignations in management at MSU soon.
November 22nd, 2017 at 10:25 AM ^
November 22nd, 2017 at 10:45 AM ^
I always assumed they would look at MSU. They employed Nassar and you had to have assumed they heard the rumors at the bare minimum.
November 22nd, 2017 at 10:51 AM ^
The other aspect of those lawsuits is the discovery process will cast a very wide net to all their athletic programs.
You'd likely get into internal documents regarding the Appling and Payne matter as just one example. Lawyers looking for a "culture of cover up" angle.
I think MSU will settle and settle fast along the lines in maybe a mass settlement like the NFL had with concussion victims.
They have the money. And with the climate out there about sexual assault, the PR of fighting all this for years is horrible.
November 22nd, 2017 at 11:33 AM ^
"Never turn a one-day story into a two-day story."
Obviously this case was never going to be just a one-day story, but MSU's foot-dragging and lack of investigative transparency even after the shit came to light is going to ultimately be almost as bad for the institution as its original lack of oversight.
November 22nd, 2017 at 1:35 PM ^
November 22nd, 2017 at 11:53 AM ^
MSU administration needs to be called out, drawn, and quartered for being the horrible people that they are. Protect the gymnastics program and coaches rather than rid the house of a serial criminal sexual assaulter.
November 22nd, 2017 at 1:52 PM ^
What boggles my mind is how this creep got away with this for so long. I realize how the power play works (old male doctor v. vulnerable young girl), but it seems like at least one of the girls would have said something to a parent who would have confronted him or his employers.