The president of Michigan State University announced his resignation Thursday, three years after he was hired in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal.
Samuel Stanley Jr. said he has lost confidence in the school’s governing board and can no longer serve.
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“I gave my contractually required 90-day notice of resignation,” Stanley said in a video announcement.
Since summer, Stanley has been under fire by some trustees, namely for the departure of a business school dean. He said Sanjay Gupta was removed because there were “failures of leadership” related to Title IX, the federal law that bars sex discrimination in programs that receive federal aid.
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But the Michigan State board recently took the extraordinary step of hiring a law firm to investigate Gupta’s removal. Some trustees in September also urged Stanley to step down, despite two years remaining on his contract.
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In response, no-confidence votes against the board were approved by the Faculty Senate and Michigan State’s student government.
“The actions of the campus over the past month have shown the world that Michigan State University will not accept micromanagement by board members of the operations of this great institution,” Stanley said Thursday.
University trustees are picked in statewide elections. Democrats have a 5-3 edge.
Stanley was president of Stony Brook University in New York when he was hired three years ago at 50,000-student Michigan State in East Lansing, Michigan.
The school was trying to recover from a scandal involving Nassar, a campus sports doctor, who was accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of women and girls, including Olympic gymnasts, at Michigan State, a local gymnastics club and USA Gymnastics. He pleaded guilty and is serving decades in prison.
Critics said Michigan State had missed opportunities to investigate complaints about Nassar. The school settled lawsuits for $500 million.
Lou Anna Simon resigned as president in 2018, just hours after Nassar was sentenced. Former Michigan Gov. John Engler was brought in as interim leader, but he lasted only a year.
