By Gio DiFazio

A person in a position of authority carries a unique responsibility. Whether it be a lunch monitor in elementary school, a law enforcement officer or the leader of a major academic institution, a lack of action in certain situations is equal to a deliberately harmful action in others. The lack of action from Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon and the MSU administration over the course of Larry Nassar’s reign of terror shows that the administration, in particular Simon, turned a blind eye to the heinous acts being perpetrated on her campus for as long as two or more decades.

Larry Nassar sexually abused hundreds of young women while working as a physician for Michigan State and the United States Gymnastics Association. (At a trial earlier this month, he was given his third consecutive life sentence.) In 1997, two young gymnasts were told by Coach Kathie Klages that their encounter with Dr. Nassar was entirely normal after they complained of inappropriate touching  when seeing him for an injury sustained in a youth program at Michigan State. Klages told the 16- and 14-year-old girls they were misunderstanding the situation, and informed Nassar of their complaint. This afforded Nassar the opportunity to justify his actions to the girls at their next appointment.

Kathie Klages retired in February of last year. Klages is just one name on an already long list of faculty that enabled Nassar to commit these acts over 20 years. The list will only grow as the over 140 lawsuits are resolved.

Nassar was investigated for sexual assault by the school’s Title IX office and subsequently cleared in 2014. After being notified of the investigation, MSU police even followed up with an investigation of their own, and submitted a warrant request to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s office. The office decided not to charge Nassar.

Almost a year later, lawyer and former gymnast Rachael Denhollander filed a report with MSU police, who then reopened their investigation of Nassar, resulting in Nassar’s guilty plea.

Simon’s resignation letter was written Jan. 24 of this year. The letter reeks of entitlement and a total lack of remorse for the victims. She wrote in her resignation statement, “As tragedies are politicized, blame is inevitable.”

Everything is politicized. Discourse and debate should surround any issue. How else can we learn from such occurrences if we can’t sit back and see where the mistakes were made? To deflect the blame from herself is a very irresponsible and cowardly stance on an issue that will be talked about for some time. Michigan State has a burden of blame that they need to acknowledge, and there is no way around it. An administration led by Simon that allowed such acts to take place is a fitting spot to concentrate that blame.

We won’t know the details of everything that MSU did and didn’t do until all the victims’ cases are resolved, but some of the university’s missteps have already been brought to light. What exactly did Lou Anna Simon and the administration know, and when?

She says in her letter, “I have been told it is virtually impossible to stop a determined sexual predator and pedophile, that they will go to incomprehensible lengths to keep what they do in the shadows.”

Ms. Simon’s attitude and outlook toward the nature of sexual assault is brought into question with statements like these. The most depraved members of society do and always will exist, but that does not relieve us of our duty to try and stop them.

Up until his termination in 2016, many athletes would complain to authorities about Nassar’s actions, and the cries always fell on deaf ears — even on the ears of the administration of Michigan State University.

Simon’s underhanded method of deflecting the blame from herself and the trustees show us her true feelings in regard to the victims of this situation. If MSU had followed up and conducted a thorough investigation some 20 years ago, would this have turned into one of the biggest scandals since the turn of the century?