XPost: soc.culture.african.american, alt.education, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.society.liberalism   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - MSU Trustee Rema Vassar announced Sunday that she   
   is stepping down from her role as board chairperson.   
      
   During the Sunday night special meeting conducted via Zoom, trustees also   
   discussed an outside law firm’s report recommending penalties against   
   Vassar and trustees Dennis Denno and Brianna Scott for what the report   
   called violations of the MSU’s ethics policies and bylaws.   
      
   The board agreed to follow recommendations on improving trustee governance   
   by improving onboarding and professional development.   
      
   Vassar resigns as board chairperson   
      
   Vassar sent the letter to the Board of Trustees and incoming MSU President   
   Kevin Guskiewicz just hours before a special meeting Sunday night. Vassar,   
   who is a professor at Wayne State University, says she intends to stay on   
   the board as a trustee. She was first elected to the board in 2020. Her   
   term ends at the finish of 2028.   
      
   “Throughout my career, I have been an advocate for education as an elixir   
   to cure all that ails our society,” Vassar wrote in the letter, according   
   to the Detroit News. “I have been and will always be especially dedicated   
   to advocating for those who are marginalized, victimized, ignored, and   
   suffering in educational spaces. This has been and will continue to be my   
   focus and life’s work. Please accept my resignation as Chair of the Board   
   of Trustees of Michigan State University, effective upon the naming of a   
   new Chair. I have been honored to serve as Chairwoman, and I look forward   
   to continuing to support the University’s land grant mission as a   
   Trustee.”   
      
   Vassar’s resignation ends 14 months of leadership by the first Black woman   
   to chair the MSU board.   
      
   Succeeding Vassar as board chairperson is Dan Kelly. Kelly Tebay will   
   become vice chairperson.   
      
   Vassar and Denno both voted no on resolutions that remove them from their   
   committee assignments, censures them, suspends them from board activities,   
   and refers them to the Governor for further review. Vassar called the   
   action “premature” and “over the top”.   
      
   The board approved censuring Scott, which she accepted.   
      
   Independent report blames Vassar, Denno, Scott of wrongdoing   
      
   Sunday night’s special Board of Trustees meeting comes after Friday’s   
   release of a 63-page report into allegations of wrongdoing by the Michigan   
   State University Board of Trustees.   
      
   MSU hired Washington-DC based law firm Miller & Chevalier to conduct the   
   investigation after Scott alleged Vassar violated board rules and bullied   
   other board members and administrators. Scott urged Michigan Governor   
   Gretchen Whitmer to intervene and remove Vassar if the chair didn’t   
   resign.   
      
   The report said Vassar acted outside her authority after trying to   
   negotiate a settlement with former business school dean Sanjay Gupta. It   
   also found that Vassar and Denno worked to bully interim President Teresa   
   Woodruff. The report said Vassar got courtside tickets for a basketball   
   game from an MSU doner and accepted other special benefits.   
      
   Denno was also accused of interfering in the review of the Feb. 13, 2023   
   mass shooting on campus. The report says he tried to get the firm hired to   
   analyze MSU’s response to alter its report.   
      
   It found that their actions “created fissures that have weakened the   
   governance structure of the University and encouraged and created openings   
   for members of the MSU community to also circumvent the Administration and   
   reporting protocols, by leveraging individual Board members to act on   
   their behalf.”   
      
   It also recommended Scott be censured for releasing a letter of   
   allegations against Vassar that contained confidential information, which   
   triggered the investigation last October.   
      
   The Miller & Chevalier report found three trustees violated board bylaws   
   and policies and recommended Whitmer consider removing Vassar and Denno   
   and censure Scott for violations of board rules and ethical violations.   
      
   Whitmer press secretary Stacey LaRouche said the Governor reviewed the   
   report. She called the findings “concerning” but didn’t indicate if any   
   action would be taken. The state constitution gives the Governor the   
   ability to remove members of university governing boards for misconduct.   
      
   Denno criticizes report   
      
   Denno issued a statement Sunday where he implied the law firm looking into   
   the trustees didn’t do a comprehensive investigation. Denno said he asks a   
   lot of questions and that rubs some administrators and trustees the wrong   
   way.   
      
   He said he would accept a censure, but not more severe punishment.   
      
   “What has been proposed is overly punitive in nature, I do not believe the   
   board has legal grounds or ability to impose such extreme restrictions,   
   which would limit my ability to represent this great school, speak for my   
   Arab-American community, and the survivor community, and I have legal   
   counsel reviewing a potential lawsuit should this board not do the right   
   thing here as I have agreed to do,” Denno wrote in the statement obtained   
   by the Detroit News.   
      
   Guskiewicz begins Monday as new MSU President   
      
   Guskiewicz begins his tenure as MSU President on Monday.   
      
   He’s the latest leader for the East Lansing campus, which has seen five   
   presidents in six years.   
      
   Former President Lou Anna Simon left in 2018 over concerns of her handling   
   the Larry Nassar sex abuse case. She was replaced by former Michigan   
   Governor John Engler, who left as interim President in 2019, after he was   
   criticized for comments he allegedly made of sexual assault survivors.   
   Satish Udpa was named acting president until Samuel Stanley was hired as   
   President in 2019, a role he resigned in 2022 over disputes with the Board   
   of Trustees. Teresa Woodruff, who was Provost under Stanley, took over as   
   interim President. She decided not to seek the fulltime President role and   
   saw the campus through the mass shooting that left three students dead in   
   February 2023.   
      
   Guskiewicz previously was the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He   
   is a neuroscientist and concussion researcher.   
      
   MSU begins handing over Nassar documents to Attorney General’s Office   
      
   MSU announced Friday that it began transferring Nassar documents to the   
   Attorney General’s office.   
      
   Back in December, trustees approved releasing thousands of documents   
   connected to Nassar, a former MSU and US Olympic team physician who was   
   convicted of sexually assaulting hundreds of athletes. The school   
   previously withheld the documents for years under attorney-client   
   privilege.   
      
   Mel Tucker investigation doesn’t find wrongdoing by MSU officials   
      
   The investigation into MSU trustees is the second such probe in the past   
   year.   
      
   Law firm Jones Day looked into who leaked Brenda Tracy’s name. Tracy   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)