Michigan State Faculty Moving Ahead With No-Confidence Vote

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - Michigan State University faculty are moving ahead with a motion to take a no-confidence vote on the school's board of trustees in response to the board's decision to hire former Gov. John Engler as interim president.

Members of the university's Academic Congress overwhelmingly approved a measure Saturday to hold the no-confidence vote at the Faculty Senate's next meeting.

If that vote passes, faculty would call on the board of trustees to step down immediately.

Faculty members say the board rushed to appoint Engler, and criticized his lack of academic experience.

Engler was hired as interim president last Wednesday after longtime President Lou Anna Simon resigned Jan. 24 amid a growing outcry over the university's handling of the sex assault scandal involving former university sports doctor Larry Nassar.

Nassar, the disgraced former sports doctor, has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexual assaulting female patients.

Nassar pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting seven girls and women in the Lansing area between 1998 and 2015 during medical visits, but the hearing was open to all of his accusers who wished to speak. Both the Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics are accused of mishandling the case.

One woman said when she reported Nassar's disturbing "treatments" to MSU training staff, she was allegedly told that Nassar was a world-renowned doctor and that his "inter‐vaginal adjustments" were legitimate medical treatments.

The sexual assault sentence is on top of a 60 year sentence on a separate federal conviction for child pornography.

Engler begins his tenure at the university on Feb. 5.

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