MSU Hires Weinstein-Linked Risk Management Firm
This one boggles my mind a bit, and I really don't have a comment beyond that...
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/02/14/msu-tit…
When asked about MSU hiring a firm that allegedly helped Weinstein discredit his accusers, Engler had this to say:
"During a press conference Wednesday, Engler addressed the concerns about Kroll and said he was aware of the firm’s relationship with Weinstein.
“But just as I might disagree with one news network’s coverage of, say, some issue, I wouldn’t blame all news networks for that,” Engler said.
In conclusion, if nothing else is to be taken from this, John Engler is terrible at analogies...
February 15th, 2018 at 2:37 PM ^
If this particular attorney at Kroll had some special skill set, based on her personal past client experience, then hiring her might have made sense. In this case, though, it only seems as though she has been brought on to clear the backlog in cases within MSU's Title IX office.
Unless Kroll was hired because they'd worked with Weinstein (which would be the biggest F*CK YOU to Nasser survivors that I can imagine) there doesn't seem to be a particular reason to select Kroll. This leads me to believe that MSU had no knowledge of Kroll's reputation, though it seems the DetNews figured it out pretty quickly. That's not a good look for MSU.
For his part, Engler has always seemed to say exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time, whether intended or not (maybe he's the right fit for MSU after all). He's "very, very excited about their work they're (Kroll) going to do." I'm not sure "excited" is how I'd choose to describe the necessity to expedite a shit storm of complaints against the school.
I'm starting to believe that hubris and incompetence are the two defining characteristics, and the likely root cause of the on-going issues, at MSU.
February 15th, 2018 at 2:44 PM ^
Blanchard, in a Freep article yesterday, stated he was shocked that the BOT never, ever met without Simon in the room. This alone is mind boggling and shows ignorance of the BOT (either that or intentional disregard of fiduciary duties) as well as an astounding level of tone-deafness in giving her a raise in the midst of victim testimonies. Blanchard also commented that the BOT is fearful of losing state funding in the wake of the Nassar scandal (notably, they didn't seem to care about anything that was done... only the financial fallout).
Money? MSU will be spending plenty of that, for Blanchard's former law firm. 50K/monthly as reported by the News.
Other news tidbits Izzo agrees with Engler's claim that the ESPN report is "sensationalized." That is almost funny. They can't say it's not true, only that the rather sensational occurrences are sensationalized.
February 15th, 2018 at 3:08 PM ^
By happy accident (for me) I was able to have some good discussions with him. We have different political perspectives, but I found him to be very thoughtful, and he would consider (and even welcome) alternative points of view.
IMHO, he would have been a much better option as interim MSU President. And I write that having voted for Engler over Blanchard in 1990.
February 15th, 2018 at 2:44 PM ^
“Their focus is on sexual assaults ... Kroll is very respected and I’m very, very excited about the work they’re going to do ... We’ve seen a spike in the number of reported assaults, which I think is good because people are being willing to come forward.
“We want to get our backlog cleared,” Engler continued. “We want to make sure that people who – first of all, the perpetrator who’s been identified in this case has been dealt with – and we want to make sure they get the treatment they need.”
Excited? About an outside investigator cleaning up their mess. I probably wouldn't have used that word but...derp. But at least they're on the way to sweeping this under the...I mean clearing up their backlog.
February 15th, 2018 at 2:48 PM ^
They are going down in flames.
February 15th, 2018 at 3:12 PM ^
Not a national story, as others have said. However the Detroit papers have been covering the developments out of EL fairly consistently over the last year or so at least.
Examples: Freep broke the story of former MSU WR Keith Mumphery who has been banned form campus until Dec. 31st 2018. MSU is now defending a lawsuit from the victim. Hollis and Dantonio helped shield Mumphery from prosecution and delayed the investigation/disciplinary process for a ridiculous length of time (so he could use all of his playing eligiblity) and then took no action until the OCR forced their hand. MSU's position there is well we did eventually ban him from campus so you know we DID take action, it just took a few years. The defense against the emotional distress claim is equally reprehensible: She can't prove any emotional distress because she can't prove she ever ran into him after the rape, on campus. Dear God if this is the best their legal team can come up with.....
ESPN also reported on this story.
Meanwhile, the News' Washington bureau reports that MSU is sticking to its institutional denial of Nassar's criminal assaults. However, MSU will have to answer questions from Senate investigators. MSU lawyers wrote to the Senate committee that MSU employees had no indication of what was happening, although the News' investigation found that victims had reported assaults to at least 14 MSU representatives in the 2 decades prior to his arrest, including Simon.
February 15th, 2018 at 3:54 PM ^
They seem to want various people and groups investigating them that either: a) they're grossly incompetent, if not downright stupid; or b) guilty of crimes, including obstruction of justice.
Incredible.
February 15th, 2018 at 4:00 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 5:17 PM ^
You are correct. It's a lot of different failures on MSU's part to keep track of and Pam slipped up there. Easy to do with this many different screw ups.
It wasn't about playing eligibility, the athletic department was stupid enough to invite him back for other reasons (golf outing and a football camp). Read the article, it's still wrong regardless.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/11/27/lawsuit-msu-…
February 15th, 2018 at 6:31 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 6:46 PM ^
ESPN reported that both Hollis and Izzo knew that Walton and 2 players had been accused of a gang rape. The evidence suggests that it was not reported to the Title IX office.
ESPN asked MSU on this specific case if it was reported to the Title IX office and their response was a non-answer that they have high standards that they don't always live up to.
It is in fact against the law for Izzo not to report an alleged rape to the Title IX office.
If this is the case, what will his excuse be? That he thought Hollis did, so he didn't have to? Will that cut it with Spartan Nation?
February 15th, 2018 at 8:49 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 8:52 PM ^
True or False: It would be illegal for Hollis and Izzo not to report an alleged rape of one of their Bball players to the Title IX office, even if they thought he was innocent?
True or False: ESPN reported on an internal memo that Hollis and Izzo knew that Walton and 2 players were accused of a gang rape and the memo suggests that the Title IX office was not contacted.
True or False: ESPN has stated that they asked MSU about the above incident and if the Title IX office was contacted and MSU chose to not answer the question, but instead responded that they have high standards that they don't always live up to.
True or False: If this incident did happen and it was not reported by Izzo and Hollis, then they committed a crime.
Answers: True, True, True, True.
You are being emotional and not thinking logical...scientific studies show that people have trouble thinking logically about things they love. You love Izzo, so you start screaming illuminati and tin foil hats in response to my reasonable post.
If ESPN is wrong on this specific point, MSU has thus far refused to deny this specific allegation. If ESPN is right...Izzo broke the law.
P.S. You are using strawman arguments, because your arguments lack intellect. I am not saying that "no one cares" about MSU. Other posters and myself have in fact said the opposite that Engler, Scheutte, and Forsythe all care about MSU/Dantonio/Izzo/MSU donors like Sechia.
February 15th, 2018 at 9:26 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 10:02 PM ^
All 4 are true - you are too illogical or have bad reading comprehension to know.
Perhaps ESPN is wrong in their report and they did show the internal memo - you obviously didn't watch OTL, so your emotional opinion means nothing.
You have no logical argument so you resort to Izzo dominates UofM...you do realize that Izzo has a losing record against Michigan over the past 8 years? Nobody is afraid of Izzo at UofM. Maybe a decade ago, not anymore.
February 15th, 2018 at 9:36 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 10:06 PM ^
I just want the truth and a fair investigation - for any potential rape victims and to prevent future rapes through accountability. How could you not want that? ....especially after Nassar ran amock on your campus... What kind of human cheers for this to not be looked into?
MSU has been asked about this incident and has thus far chosen to remain silent. You seem to want more Spartan Silence and enjoy your spin away from the topic at hand.
February 15th, 2018 at 7:15 PM ^
Are you claiming that the Dantanio (or his football program) did not shit the bed when they invited a player to an on-campus football camp when that player was banned from campus because of a sexual assault? If you want to blame some dipshit, there's a funny thing about accountability. It usually ends up going to the top.
If you want to get hung up on the mistakes posted on this board fine, but if you would just look at the actual facts yourself you'd see the pattern.
February 15th, 2018 at 8:14 PM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 9:52 AM ^
it looks like I did slip up and I appreciate the correction. I was attempting to navigate by posting quick summaries from the News and Freep press instead of posting links.
February 15th, 2018 at 3:40 PM ^
but sigh, it is not. MSU, you guys are the joke.
Everyone knows why he hired this group
February 15th, 2018 at 4:58 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 4:59 PM ^