May 10, 2018, 1:23 PM
(from the Chronicle of Higher Education) For more than 10 years, Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon was lauded as a visionary leader who fundamentally changed the direction and perception of the university. Outside grant funding nearly doubled during her presidency. The combined endowment of the university and the MSU Foundation nearly tripled. A branding campaign redefined the institution. But after MSU failed to respond to allegations of sexual abuse by sports doctor Larry Nassar and continued to act defensively once the story broke, Simon resigned in disgrace, with MSU still in turmoil. How did it happen?
Simon’s pursuit of elite status and a strong brand compelled her to create an administrative culture that served those goals. She surrounded herself with people who bought into her vision, many of them institutional loyalists. When more than 200 faculty members called for an outside investigation to the Nassar case, which was initially investigated by campus police, Simon brushed off the appeal. There was no conflict of interest for the university in investigating itself, she and other senior officials declared. For another year, that continued to be the administration’s line. “I don’t think she had the wealth of personal relations that might have either blunted the danger, or alerted her sooner to the danger, or allowed her to be more graceful when she was confronted with the danger,” said Chip Brock, the former physics-department chair.
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