Former Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Eaton County, Michigan on Tuesday. A judge will determine if there is enough evidence to put her on trial for allegedly lying to cops about previously not knowing that disgraced doctor Larry Nassar was alleged to have committed sexual abuse. This process is expected to last several days. After this first day, the next appearance will be in April.
Simon allegedly didn’t tell police about what she really knew regarding a 2014 Title IX complaint filed by medical student Amanda Thomashow. Nassar, a former doctor for MSU and USA Gymnastics, pleaded guilty and was sentenced last year for sexually abusing patients during what were supposed to be medical procedures. A total of 156 survivors either spoke or were represented in his Ingham County sentencing hearing in January 2018, though only a relative handful of the claims were adjudicated. He pleaded guilty in a similar case in Eaton County, and in a child porn case in federal court. The courts handed him effective life sentences. The Ingham County judge, for example, order him to spend up to 175 years behind bars.
The fallout from the abuse allegations didn’t just take him down. Officials at both MSU and USA Gymnastics were both accused of negligence in overseeing Nassar. Female gymnasts said the disgraced doctor took advantage of them by presenting himself as a friendly face amid domineering coaches. The U.S. Olympic Committee announced in November that they would initiate proceedings to revoke USAG’s status as the national governing body in the sport.
Then there’s MSU. Thomashow, who spoke at the Ingham County hearing, blasted the school for how they handled her complaint against Nassar.
“The investigation done by MSU was brief and sloppy,” she said. “It left me feeling disposable and worthless.”
[Image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images]