Morgan
McCaul
entered
Michigan
State’s
medicine
clinic at the age of 12. At the
time, McCaul — now an LSA
freshman at the University of
Michigan — was an aspiring
ballerina with tears in both hip
flexors.
She went to East Lansing
in search of world-renowned
doctor Larry Nassar with hopes
he could provide her with the
help she needed to return to
dance.
Nearly
five
years
later,
McCaul realized she had been
sexually assaulted by Nassar
under the guise of medical
treatment. McCaul had seen
Nassar as the physician she
wanted to be. Instead, she
was a victim of his abuse and
manipulation.
“I was your little ‘goof’ and so
I looked to you as a role model,
hoping to volunteer at MSU
Sports Medicine alongside you
someday,”
McCaul’s
impact
statement
read.
“Do
you
remember taking me out to
lunch after I job-shadowed you
at the Clinic? I still have our
friendly Facebook messages. In
my mind, you were my both my
mentor and my friend.”
McCaul is small in stature,
just like she was when she met
Nassar. Yet that hasn’t stopped
her from finding her voice. She
is no longer a victim — instead,
she is a survivor.
On Nov. 22, 2017, Nassar —
who earned his undergraduate
degree in kinesiology at the
University — pleaded guilty to
seven counts of first-degree
sexual misconduct in Ingham
County Circuit Court. A week
later, he pleaded guilty to
another three counts of first-
degree sexual misconduct in
Eaton County for treatments he
administered at the Twistars
Gymnastics Club in Dimondale.
McCaul
was
involved
in
both civil and criminal suits
against Nassar. She was never
involved in John Geddert’s
Twistars Gymnastics Club or
USA
Gymnastics,
something
she is grateful for, as more
information about misconduct
within those organizations is
uncovered.
“I feel really lucky that I was
not in their care,” McCaul said.
“I still feel passionately that
those institutions need to be
held accountable.”
As the date of Nassar’s
sentencing hearing approached,
McCaul and fellow survivors
spent more and more time
appealing
to
the
press
to
ensure the sentencing received
coverage. Since then, McCaul
has been one of the leading
voices in the press.
That means she hasn’t had
the conventional first semester
than most freshmen have. She
has spent her first few months
of college commuting between
Ann Arbor and her home in Lake
Odessa, attending class on the
weekdays and legal meetings on
the weekends.
McCaul and other survivors
attended
MSU
Board
of
Trustees meetings throughout
the fall, pressing them to take
action. No one seemed to be
listening, neither the trustees
nor the media.
Sentencing began Jan. 16,
originally intended to end Jan.
19, with 90 survivors slated to
give impact statements. The
Monday before the hearing, all
90 survivors regrouped before
the trial.
“We were able to sit in a room
and chat and see each other’s
faces,” McCaul recalled. “It’s
really empowering.”
And then Judge Rosemarie
Aquilina made a decision to
allow all survivors a chance
to speak and confront Nassar.
As
the
hearing
continued,
the
number
of
individuals
delivering impact statements
grew from 90 to 156. That didn’t
And so that’s what I did. I spent my childhood
practicing fouette turns and tour jetes, my
summers
preparing
for
Cecchetti
ballet
examinations, and every moment in between
dreaming up choreography for a performance of
my own. Dance was my life’s passion, my greatest
combatant yet my greatest joy. It was my art, and
it was my sport.
But, it is also the vehicle which drove my
unassuming body into Larry Nassar’s office.
Larry, when I was just twelve years old, I
walked into your office at the Michigan State
University Sports Medicine Clinic, in tremendous
pain and seeking help to return to the sport that
I loved most. I was in the 7th grade, I stood at a
towering 4 foot 10, and in you, I saw not only the
medical help I so desperately needed after tearing
both of my hip flexors...
I saw a physician that I aspired to be. I was your
little “goof” and so I looked to you as a role model,
hoping to volunteer at MSU Sports Medicine
alongside you someday. Do you remember taking
me out to lunch after I job-shadowed you at
the Clinic? I still have our friendly Facebook
messages. In my mind, you were my both my
mentor and my friend.
And it wasn’t until 2016 that I realized that
you molested me.
Every shred of admiration I had for you is
gone. Every excuse I told my twelve-year-old-
self when you were penetrating me is gone. The
man I thought I knew did not exist. Only a selfish
predator, whose atrocities know no bounds. You
violated the very principal of your calling as a
former physician:
Do. No. Harm.
This past year and a half has been, without a
doubt, the most difficult and traumatic period of
my life. Your betrayal has caused me countless
sleepless nights; when I do find sleep, I’m
plagued with nightmares and when I wake up,
I’m living one. This has ruined my first year at
the University of Michigan and robbed me of the
college experience every young girl deserves.
Most tragic of all is that your crime has
shaken my very image of myself... this sentiment
has been echoed by hundreds of other women
who’ve shared their most painful memories with
this courtroom. It is perhaps your most vile
transgression.
But alas, Larry, you are merely a symptom of a
sickness which plagues the very core of Michigan
State University, threatening every little girl who
steps foot on that campus; a culture of sexual
abuse and the perverse, deliberate inaction to
hold predators accountable.
In the aftermath of Nassar’s crimes, calls have
been renewed for MSU President, Lou Anna K.
Simon, to resign. The fact that she has yet to do so
is insulting to the hundreds of survivors like me--
-it is, in fact, 42 months, countless slanderous
public statements by Jason Cody, calls from
numerous Congressmen and -women, and one
one-hundred and fifty thousand dollar slap-in-
the-face of a raise too late.
Since reports of Larry Nassar’s misconduct
to Michigan State faculty began in 1997, two
years before I was even born, I can’t help but
wonder:
How many little girls could have been spared
from this lifelong battle, if someone at the
University had done the bare minimum and
listened ?
Judge Aquilina, I implore you to impose
a sentence against this man which sends an
unmistakable message to those who perpetrate
heinous crimes against young people; whether
they molest and maim, or look the other way to
protect their Green-And-White.
Thank you, your honor.
Kyle Stephens
Jessica Thomashow
Victim D
Chelsey Markham
Jade Capua
Alexis Moore
Olivia Cowan
Rebecca Mark
Bethany Bauman
Kate Mahon
Danielle Moore
Marion Siebert
Annette Hill
Taylor Stevens
Victim 55
Amanda Cormier
Jennifer Rood Bedford
Nicole Soos
Ashley Erickson
Melissa Imrie
Victim 125
Megan Halicek
Victim 48
Katelyn Skrabis
Brianne Randall
Victim 2
Anna Ludes
Lindsey Schuett
Maggie Nichols
Tiffany Thomas Lopez
Jeanette Antolin
Amanda Thomashow
Victim 105
Gwen Anderson
Amanda Barterian
Jaime Doski
Jenelle Moul
Madeline Jones
Kayla Spicher
Jennifer Hayes
Nicole Walker
Victim 75
Chelsea Williams
Stephanie Robinson
Carrie Hogan
Helena Weick
Victim 28
Victim 10
Taryn Look
Jamie Dantzscher
McKayla Maroney
Lindsey Lemke
Nicole Reeb
Lyndsy Gamet
Taylor Cole
Jessica Smith
Arianna Guerrero
Melody Posthuma Van der Veen
Christine Harrison
Victim 153
Victim 11
Victim 136
Kristin Thelen
Katie Rasmussen
Jessica Tarrant
Mary Fisher-Follmer
Jordyn Wieber
Chelsea Zerfas
Samantha Ursch
Kara Johnson
Maddie Johnson
Marie Anderson
Amy Labadie
Ashley Yost
Aly Raisman
Kassie Powell
Megan Ginter
Katherine Gordan
Katelynne Hall
Anya Gillengerten
Kaylee McDowell
Lindsay Woolever
Hannah Morrow
Bayle Pickel
Alexis Alvarado
Trenea Gonzcar
Larissa Boyce
Bailey Lorencen
Valerie Webb
Whitney Mergens
Marta Stern
Clasina Syrovy
Emma Ann Miller
Amanda Smith
Taylor Livingston
Victim 163
Victim 183
Presley Allison
Kamerin Moore
Krista Wakeman
Samantha Daniels
Victim 159
Alliree Gingerich
Megan Farnsworth
Kourtney Weidner
A.N.
Charla Burill
Lauren Michalak
Vanasia Bradley
Breanne Rata
Erin McCann
Catherine Hannum
Victim 170
Jessica Chedler Rodriguez
Victim 138
Morgan Margraves
Victim 127
Victim 142
Victim 162
Victim 186
Victim 185
Victim 73
Victim 165
Whitney Burns
Isabell Hutchins
Meaghan Ashcraft
Natalie Woodland
Jillian Swinehart
Alison Chauvette
Anna Dayton
Olivia Venuto
Victim 126
Mattie Larson
Jessica Howard
Alexandra Romano
Arianna Castillo
Selena Brennan
Victim 190
Makayla Thrush
Emily Morales
Abigail Mealy
Ashley Bremer
Victim 195
Brooke Hylek
Abigayle Bergeron
Emily Meinke
Morgan Valley
Christina Barba
Amanda McGeachie
Victim 177
Victim 178
Sterling Riethman
Kaylee Lorincz
Rachael Denhollander
michigandaily.com
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Friday, January 26, 2018
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 63
©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
Morgan McCaul, University
freshman, fights for justice
After years of abuse at the hands of Nassar, McCaul stands
alongside fellow survivors as Nassar sentenced 40-175 years
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
SURVIVORS.
Morgan McCaul
SOPHIE SHERRY
Managing News Editor
MORGAN MCCAUL’S IMPACT STATEMENT
See NASSAR, Page 2
When I was just two years old, I witnessed a production of
Alice In Wonderland. It was full of dazzling dance numbers
which captured my tiny heart, and I knew right then and
there, I wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up.