ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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“JUSTICE REQUIRES ACTION ...AND A VOICE AND THAT IS WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THIS COURT.” -Judge Rosemarie Aquilina
Nassar gets 40 to 175 years in prison on criminal charges 156 women and girls stand before court as survivors of sexual assault, tears and hugs as sentence handed down in Lansing SOPHIE SHERRY, RIYAH BASHA & ANDREW HIYAMA
Managing News Editors & Daily News Editor
Former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to serve 40 years to 175 years in state prison Wednesday afternoon at the conclusion of a week-long trial. More than 150 survivors of sexual assault delivered statements over the course of the week, testifying to the molestation and abuse they suffered at the hands of Nassar under the guise of medical
treatment over the past 30 years. Upon Judge Rosemarie Aquilina’s verdict, survivors shed tears in the audience. Aquilina was defiant. “You played on everyone’s vulnerabilities,” she said. “I am not vulnerable.” Nassar will serve his state sentence after his 60-year federal sentence on charges of child pornography handed down in December, Nassar, 54, for a minimum total of 100 years. Nassar also faces a sentence next week in Eaton County on three charges of criminal sexual assault due to treatments he administered at the Twistars gymnastics clinic in Dimondale, Michigan.
Nassar, a University of Michigan alum, pled guilty to the criminal charges of firstdegree sexual conduct last November — the maximum sentence on his plea deal was 40 years. Testifying in Ingham County Circuit Court this week, survivors revealed more than three decades of sexual abuse, some of them only six years old when they began seeing Nassar. Rachael Denhollander was the first survivor to go public, contacting a reporter from IndyStar after the publication of their investigation into the abuse in US Gymnastics in September 2016. Her allegations began a new wave of reports and lawsuits. Denhollander delivered the final victim
impact statement Wednesday to tears and applause from the survivors and their families assembled in the courtroom. “How much is a little girl worth? How much is a young woman worth?” she asked Nassar and the court. “Every woman who stood up here, truly loved you as an innocent child. Really truly loved you. And it did not satisfy you,” Denhollander said. “And that’s a joy you’ve cut yourself off from ever experiencing. And I pity you for it.” “And this is what it looks like when people in authority choose not to listen, put friendships over the truth, and refuse to hold enablers accountable,” she continued.
“(We) are fighting because no one else would do it.” Aquilina showered the hundreds of survivors who stood before the court with affirmation. She called Denhollander “the bravest person I’ve ever had in my courtroom.” Before delivering her sentence, Aquilina addressed the survivors one last time, reminding them they are no longer victims, calling on them and anyone watching to continue to fight for change. “Speak out like these survivors,” she said. “Become part of the army.” Following public pressure placed on the NCAA for a more comprehensive response to this
abuse, members of the USA Gymnastics Board of Directors tendered their resignations Sunday, including Chairman Paul Parilla, Vice Chairman Jay Binder and Treasurer Bitsy Kelley. Tuesday evening, MSU’s athletic department received notice of an investigation opened by the NCAA into the assaults “Nassar perpetrated against girls and young women, including some studentathletes at Michigan State.” MSU trustee Joel Ferguson shrugged at the idea of the NCAA investigating MSU in a Lansing radio interview Tuesday afternoon. Ferguson also said the trustees had See NASSAR, Page 2
MSU president resigns after months of scrutiny & scandal Trustees accept official announcement Wednesday night after calls from state legislators, survivors and student body RIYAH BASHA
Managing News Editor
Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon has tendered her official resignation, according to a statement released on the school’s website Wednesday night. MSU Board of Trustees President Brian Breslin wrote the trustees approved Simon’s resignation. Simon has served as president for 13 years, and has worked at MSU for the last 30. “To the survivors, I can
never say enough that I am so sorry that a trusted, renowned physician was really such an evil, evil person who inf licted such harm under the guise of medical treatment,” Simon’s statement reads. Simon says the scandal has been “politicized,” and it is “understandable” she is the focus of public anger and blame. A source told the Detroit Free Press potential interim presidents in the trustees’ succession plan include former Michigan Govs. Jennifer Granholm, James Blanchard and John Engler. Calls for Simon to resign
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peaked after Nassar’s sentence — 40 to 175 years on firstdegree sexual misconduct — was handed down Wednesday afternoon. Simon was first informed of survivors’ reports and Title IX investigations into Nassar in 2014. “I told people to play it straight up, and I did not receive a copy of the report,” she saidafter an appearance at Nassar’s hearing. “That’s the truth.” Nassar molested and sexually abused hundreds of women and girls while on medical staff, both with MSU’s women’s gymnastics team and
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USA Gymnastics. 156 survivors delivered statements at Nassar’s week-long sentencing hearing in Ingham County Circuit Court, detailing three decades of abuse under the guise of medical treatment. Multiple survivors called for more accountability at MSU, and accused Simon, public officials and coaching staff of glossing over their reports. Rachel Denhollander, the first survivor to go public with accusations against Nassar in 2016, blasted MSU’s handling of the case in the final victim impact statement delivered Wednesday.
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“(MSU) did not listen in 1997 or 1998 or 1999 or 2000 or 2004 or 2014,” she said. “Victims were silenced, intimidated, told they were receiving medical treatment, and at times sent back to be further abused. This is what happens when a person puts their selfish desires over the people around them. This is what it looks like when institutions create a culture when a predator can behave unabated.” Simon made brief appearances during the trial, but said repeatedly she did not want to take away from the survivors by attending the trial.
Vol. CXXVII, No. 62 ©2018 The Michigan Daily
“Lou Anna Simon, why are you not here?” survivor Alexis Alvarado asked in court Friday. “I do not want to hear another bullshit excuse from you.” Within hours of Judge Rosemarie Aquilina’s verdict, the Michigan State House of Representatives passed a resolution asking MSU to resign Simon from her position. “We have lost confidence in the ability of President Lou Anna K. Simon to lead a transparent investigation, to implement changes that will ensure it never happens again, to protect students, and to See MSU, Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7