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 first-
degree 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
student-
athletes 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
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 62
©2018 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
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 inflicted
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
peaked after Nassar’s sentence
— 40 to 175 years on first-
degree 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
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.
“(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.
“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
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
“JUSTICE
REQUIRES
ACTION
...AND A VOICE AND
THAT IS WHAT
HAS HAPPENED IN
THIS COURT.”
-Judge Rosemarie Aquilina
SOPHIE SHERRY,
RIYAH BASHA &
ANDREW HIYAMA
Managing News Editors &
Daily News Editor
See NASSAR, Page 2
See MSU, Page 3