Faculty, business school board members, students and donors condemned the MSU board of trustees Friday morning for burying a report on the forced departure of business school dean Sanjay Gupta.
Nancy Vella, a 1979 graduate, told a regular board meeting: “Any cover-up of all the facts by the board will only lead to continued unethical conduct by those in charge and do more harm to this university. “How can your board members pretend nothing happened? Why don’t you pursue transparency?”
At issue is an investigation into Gupta’s forced removal as business school dean ordered by law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Interim Chancellor Teresa Woodruff, then provost, forced Gupta to resign after determining that he had not reported sexual misconduct to the university’s Title IX investigations office.
After the investigation was launched, then-President Samuel Stanley and Woodruff defended their actions. Stanley left the university earlier this year, saying he did not trust the board to work with its members.
Investigation is now complete. Board members were briefed on the findings behind closed doors on Thursday, but told lawyers not to prepare any paperwork so the report is not subject to open records laws.
Board members did not comment on what was included in the investigation. Board member Brianna Scott acknowledged Gupta’s presence at the board meeting. She said the board received new information.
“We’re going to act on that information and I hope we’re doing it right,” she told Gupta during comments from the meeting.
That wasn’t a big deal for the MSU community, which had already lacked trust in the university’s leadership since the Larry Nassar scandal. At the time, board members opposed reform proposals and refused to release thousands of pages of internal emails related to previous investigations into Nassar’s sexual misconduct.
That era at MSU also came up in Friday’s meeting. Several speakers noted that MSU will hold a private ceremony Monday to unveil an official portrait of former president Lou Anna Simon.
That sent the wrong message to Nassar survivors, they said.
Simon was forced out of his job over his handling of reports of Nassar’s abuse of students, including an investigation before police arrested Nassar and exonerated him. He was convicted on multiple sexual abuse charges and is currently serving time.
“Time and time again, MSU has broken the trust of survivors, the MSU community and the public,” said MSU professor Ann Pegler-Gordon. “This culture of abuse, lack of accountability, lack of transparency continues. It has to stop.”
Trustee Scott said she does support the Simon event and will not be attending. She noted that the portrait was part of Simon’s exit contract.
Hiding reports in Gupta is pretty much the same thing, speaker after speaker said.
On Friday, Blake Maday, who represents the business school’s student senate, told board members that students want clear answers about what happened.
MSU business school professor Shawnee Vickery read out a letter signed by 20 business school professors that also called for the findings to be released.
“Full disclosure of these reports is critical if the university is serious about improving its processes and procedures and seeking to be viewed as a world-class academic institution,” the letter said. “It will help us continue to learn from our past mistakes and demonstrate that we are an institution that no longer hides from its shortcomings but faces them head-on.”
Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj