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Blog and Media Roundup - Sunday, January 28, 2018; News Roundup
Topic Started: Jan 28 2018, 06:50 AM (123 Views)
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https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/01/28/michigan-state-university-silence-sexual-assaults/1071818001/
Culture of silence on sexual assaults extends past Michigan State University's athletics
David Jesse, Detroit Free Press Published 6:01 a.m. ET Jan. 28, 2018


It was a call nothing prepares you for — your daughter, a Michigan State University student, thousands of miles from home, telling you she has been raped.

And when it happened just after Labor Day in 2014, the mom left her home in California and flew across the country, suddenly showing up in front of her daughter's dorm room.

"There was a knock on the door, and I was like, 'I'm getting up.' Then there was another knock and I went to the door and my mom was standing there almost crying. She said, 'I'm here until you tell me to leave.'

"I'm pretty independent and don't like to ask for help but it was really nice to see her standing there," the student, who graduated last fall from MSU, told the Free Press. The Free Press does not publish the names of sexual assault victims unless they request their names be included.

It was clear to the mom her daughter hadn't been sleeping, so, at some point, the pair just laid on the bed in the hotel and the mom tried to comfort her daughter.

The alleged assault had occurred at a private Michigan college, not at MSU, but investigating authorities refused to pursue charges, she said, because all they had to go on was the words of both parties.

The MSU student and her mom went looking for help.

They said they called MSU's rape hotline, but were told it was too busy to help. They called MSU's counseling center, only to be told the next available appointment was months away.

"We got no help. We got no support," the mom said. "My hope was when I called them they would say, 'here's someone to talk to. Here's some support groups. Here's someone to check in on my daughter every day.' I wanted them to say that someone cared."

Michigan State does not comment on specific situations involving students.

As the nation focuses on allegations of a cover-up in the Nassar case, and state officials and media — including the Free Press — continue to examine reports of sexual assaults involving athletes, the California student and scores of others like her don't want their stories forgotten.

MSU's problems with handling sexual assaults — covering up accusations; not responding to cries for help; attacking survivors' credibility — aren't just limited to one department. They are the systematic failings of a university, many say.

"It takes a village" to create a campus culture where Nassar's crimes, accusations against football players and cries for help from students are ignored and covered up, said Brenda Tracy, herself a survivor of a gang rape by Oregon State University football players and now a nationwide advocate and speaker on sexual assault issues. "It's never just in a vacuum."

The week that was

The past two weeks likely will go down as the worst in Michigan State history. More than 150 victims stood in a Lansing court blasting MSU and other organizations for ignoring their cries for help for decades as Nassar repeatedly sexually assaulted them.

"You are merely a symptom of the sickness, which plagues the very core of Michigan State University," Nassar survivor Moran McCaul said.

The public outcry after the testimony cost Lou Anna Simon her job after 12 years as president. She resigned Wednesday evening.

Two days later, athletic director Mark Hollis retired suddenly, hours before an ESPN report detailed numerous sexual assault allegations in the university's two marquee sports programs.

Students marched Friday night in protest of the way the university handles sexual assaults, as the school's football and basketball coaches made public statements denying any wrongdoing on their part.

Organizer and MSU junior Mackenzie Mrla said the rally was a chance for students to use the recent spotlight on MSU to speak out.

"We’re not going to choose what our university did and be silent," Mrla said. "We’re going to choose to use our words for change. We need change."

But MSU's issues stretch past athletics and encompass the entire university.
A culture of silence

It was in a hotel conference room, not a courtroom, but the stories coming from several female MSU students eerily foreshadowed what a different group of MSU students would say nearly three years later in a Lansing court.

In November 2014, four women who had filed sexual assault complaints against male students detailed how MSU routinely delayed investigations past its own rules for how long investigations should take. They also alleged the delays in investigations and appeals allowed the male students involved to routinely harass the female students who had filed the complaints. The four women sued MSU in federal court.
People walk past a statue of Sparty with his mouthBuy Photo

People walk past a statue of Sparty with his mouth taped on the MSU campus in East Lansing on Friday January 26, 2018. (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)



"The utter lack of immediate and adequate response by MSU officials to these and other complaints of sexual violence experienced by its students is reprehensible,” said Alex Zalkin, attorney for the students, in that news conference. “Rather than stepping up and doing the right thing morally and under the law, MSU deliberately shirked its legal responsibilities, which has served to injure and re-victimize these, and probably many other student-victims of campus sexual assault.”

MSU has vigorously fought the suit, claiming its administrators had immunity from suits. A federal judge denied that claim.

MSU also filed a motion to dismiss all the Title IX claims against it in the case. Title IX is a federal law that, among other things, requires universities to investigate all claims of sexual assault or harassment. A federal judge denied that claim.

MSU has appealed those rulings to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. On Friday, a federal judge put the original suit on hold until the appeals court rules.

The Free Press and other media organizations have repeatedly detailed problems with MSU's sexual assault administrative investigations.

In late 2015 and early 2016, a student waited 117 days for a ruling on her allegation about being sexually assaulted by a MSU graduate instructor.

Former gymnast Lindsey Lemke and governor candidate Gretchen Whitmer speak during the 'March for Survivors and Change at MSU' event on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018.

That's because at MSU — like other universities in the state — investigative offices are understaffed. There are no standards for who can investigate.

In Michigan, the responsibility for trying to figure out whether the allegations are true falls on fewer than 50 investigators spread out across the state's 15 public universities.

There is also no statewide standard on whether universities will automatically notify police when administrative units are notified of sexual assaults. The state can't force standards on the universities, including MSU, because the universities claim they have constitutional autonomy from the Legislature.

Read more:

Michigan State needs transparency, accountability and culture change

Michigan State and the dark cloud that moved over it on Friday

But it's not just media that have pointed out problems. In 2015, the federal government lowered the boom on the school's practices.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) said the university did not act promptly to handle two reports of sexual assault. They also found the university did not have proper procedures and policies in place to handle sexual assault reports.

The OCR report also said there were a lack of counselors and other support people on campus. MSU said it was beefing up those units.

The OCR also found, in interviews with students, that many didn’t know who to report sexual assaults to. The OCR also knocked the university’s documentation of internal grievance files and found confusion among the athletic department staff about who should report sexual assault claims to the university’s investigation office.

"Taking into account all of the evidence gathered during the investigation, OCR determined that a sexually hostile environment existed for and affected numerous students and staff on campus," the report found. The OCR looked at three years of investigations. "The University's failure to address complaints of sexual harassment, including sexual violence, in a prompt and equitable manner caused and may have contributed to a continuation of this sexually hostile environment."

It has recently been revealed that MSU failed to give the OCR all of the files about Nassar during that investigation.

In response, Simon said MSU was changing its practices and had started doing so before the OCR got involved.

"This is a societal issue that needs a societal conversation," she said when the OCR issued its report. "We have to be willing to talk through tough issues, and we must, above all, strive for fairness in a situation that may have begun as patently unfair for a survivor. Time also is an issue. We have to work through how we take the time to do thorough investigations yet maintain urgency and compassion by completing them as quickly as possible.

"When viewed through that lens, I don’t see the OCR findings as an end of a process. I see them as yet more input we can use to help us move forward. We have been constantly making improvements on this serious and pervasive issue, using various sources of information and feedback to be better tomorrow than we are today."
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March for Survivors and Change at MSU
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Lindsey Lemke, left, and her mother Christy Lemke-Akeo take a look at the Rock during the 'March for Survivors and Change at MSU' event on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, on the MSU campus in East Lansing. The Rock was painted to honor those who confronted Larry Nassar in court. Lindsey gave a victim impact statement during the sentencing hearing. The event was organized as a show of support for sexual assault survivors and to spark a change to help prevent future sexual crimes on campus. Nick King/Lansing State Journal

Nicole Mitchell was a sophomore when the OCR issued its report in 2015. She remembers the report. She said she wasn't sexually assaulted while a student but had several friends who were.

"That's such a joke," Mitchell, now 25 and an accountant living in Dallas, told the Free Press. "Nothing changed. Everyone on campus knew you couldn't report anything to them because nothing would be done. They didn't care about victims. They just wanted to protect their image. It's all lip service. It sounds good, but that's all. How many Nassar victims were assaulted after that? How many students at MSU have been raped since that?"

Since that OCR report, MSU has fought in court to stop the release of public records about its handling of sexual assault claims against athletes. It even took the unusual step of suing ESPN in order to try to have a judge force the media organization to withdraw its public records request.

"I'm ashamed of my school," said alumni Mark Timmons, 43, of Novi. "I love it, but this is embarrassing and maddening. If they are doing what they say they are doing, then just turn over the records you are required to turn over and don't fight everything constantly."
Crisis is not over

The pain isn't over for MSU.

Nassar faces sentencing in Eaton County this week on sexual abuse charges. An interim president must be hired. Questions continue to swirl around MSU's football and basketball programs relating to players and sexual misconduct allegations.

An athletic director is needed.

Michigan's governor continues to investigate whether he has the power to remove the Board of Trustees.

There are dozens of Nassar victims who have filed lawsuits against MSU.

On Saturday, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced a special investigation into MSU. There have been calls for state Legislature and congressional inquiries. And the federal OCR has said it will reopen an investigation.
Larry Nassar hangs his head as former gymnast Amanda

Larry Nassar hangs his head as former gymnast Amanda Thomashow gives her victim statement Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, in Ingham County Circuit Court in Lansing, Michigan. (Photo: Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal)



But there's more than that that needs to change, said Tracy, the Oregon rape survivor. The school's whole culture needs to change.

"To start, they should stop fighting the lawsuits," Tracy said. "I think there are a lot of people there that need to go. But more importantly, they need to stop trying to protect the brand — especially the money makers — and focus on the (survivors). They have to bring them to the table and really listen to them."

That's a key characteristic necessary of whomever is hired as the next president, student body president Lorenzo Santavicca told the Free Press.

"We need someone who will listen to, and empathize with, the students," he said.

It goes beyond that, Tracy said.

"They need a president who does that and who has the power to make changes and isn't a figurehead," she said. "Lots of places have a board member or a donor who is really pulling the strings. (MSU) needs to make sure their next president is allowed to make changes.

"They have to stop making decisions by thinking about the impact on the brand. They have to think about the impact on students."

On Friday, board members, in their first public meeting since Simon stepped down, repeatedly said they will change.

"I am so truly sorry. We failed you," said Trustee Brian Mosallam to Nassar victims. He added he will hold a town hall meeting to hear from students. We have been "tone-deaf, emotionless, and lacking empathy."

Trustee Melanie Foster echoed that.

"The university has been unresponsive to your cries. History is what it is, and now we must move forward and attempt to heal your wounds with our actions and our words," Foster said.

That will be seen by students in concrete changes in how the university spends its money.

"With the amount of money I paid in tuition and random-ass fees, there's got to be more space and more money available for counseling and supporting students," the California student who was raped in 2014 said.

She graduated last May after taking some time off to get private counseling and work toward healing.

"I wanted to be able to pick up the phone and say here are the actions you need to take, not to be told there was nothing. I wanted someone to help me through it. I needed someone to hold my hand, sometimes physically, sometimes mentally. I didn't get it."

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj
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https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/michigan-state/spartans/2018/01/27/ncaa-mark-emmert-letter/109876226/

NCAA’s Mark Emmert defends efforts on protecting college athletes
Ralph D. Russo, Associated Press Published 7:14 p.m. ET Jan. 27, 2018

Tom Izzo refuted reports that he would retire or resign as Michigan State's basketball coach. Chris Solari/DFP
635634052627541401-AP-Jim-Litke-NY108

(Photo: LM Otero Associated Press)
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A day after a report raised the possibility that the NCAA could have done more long ago about problems at Michigan State, president Mark Emmert said Saturday in an email that sexual assault allegations against Spartans athletes in 2010 were “widely reported” and already being investigated by law enforcement and the school.

Emmert made the comments in an email to the NCAA Board of Governors and other university presidents. Spokeswoman Stacey Osborn provided Emmert’s email to The Associated Press in response to a request for comment about a report by The Athletic that cited a letter sent in 2010 to NCAA leadership by the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes.

The coalition letter, also provided to the AP, detailed what the group described as a “growing epidemic” of sexual assaults by male athletes against women, and used “recent reports” of sexual violence involving two Michigan State basketball players as an example. The letter also referenced an “earlier report of similar violence” involving Michigan State basketball players and “37 reports of sexual assault by MSU athletes” that had been reported in the past two years. It did not say where that figure came from.

Michigan State’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations has come under increasing scrutiny since former university sports doctor Larry Nassar was charged with assaulting scores of girls and young women for years. Nassar, who has been sentenced to decades in prison, also worked for USA Gymnastics, where some of the top gymnasts in the sport have accused him of molesting them.

Both school President Lou Anna Simon and athletic director Mark Hollis stepped down in the past week and Michigan State is facing investigations from the state attorney general as well as the NCAA and others. An ESPN report on Friday about the handling of sexual assault allegations against athletes put football coach Mark Dantonio and basketball coach Tom Izzo under scrutiny as well.

More on MSU:

Calley: MSU should put aside '100s of millions' for Nassar victims; stop fighting lawsuits

Schuette: Special prosecutor, Michigan State Police will lead investigation into Michigan State

Emmert noted that he met with the coalition’s Katherine Redmond and legal expert Wendy Parker in November 2010. A letter sent by Emmert, dated Dec. 6 and addressed to Redmond and Parker, was also provided to AP. It detailed programs the NCAA was helping to implement on campuses to address sexual violence and student behavior, though it made no specific reference to Michigan State.

As for his role, Emmert told the NCAA board in his email: “The MSU cases were widely reported in the press and already being investigated by law enforcement and university officials. Kathy did not imply that these were unreported cases or that she was acting as a whistleblower to report unknown information to the letter’s recipients.”

Redmond did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

Emmert’s email to the board also laid out numerous steps the NCAA has taken to address sexual violence in recent years, including the 2014 publication of the Handbook on Addressing Sexual Assault and Interpersonal Violence.

“Our work to prevent sexual assault on campuses has much further to go,” Emmert wrote to the board. “There can be no room for this scourge anywhere in higher education. The assertion that I and the NCAA are not reporting crimes, however, is blatantly false. We cannot let stories of this kind deter us from our important work.”
[Mark Hollis through the years [gallery : 109834150]] Emmert letter to NCAA board

Text of an email sent by NCAA President to the NCAA Board of Governors on Saturday. It was provided to The Associated Press.

Colleagues,

You may have seen a report in “The Athletic” and subsequently repeated in other news outlets yesterday evening that infers in the headline I was informed of widespread sexual assault at Michigan State University in 2010. The implication of the headline, which has also been widely repeated, is that I was informed of sexual assaults at MSU by a whistleblower and did nothing in response. Nothing could be further from the truth.

To be clear, Katherine Redmond, a sexual assault awareness advocate, sent a letter in November 2010 to a number of people including the Board of Governors (then called the Executive Committee). It is important to note that the letter was not addressed to me or any individual. Indeed, it refers to me in the third person. In it she expresses great concern over sexual assaults on campuses, particularly those involving athletes (a copy of the letter is attached). She referenced cases of alleged sexual assault at MSU as examples of the broader problem on many campuses. The MSU cases were widely reported in the press and already being investigated by law enforcement and university officials. Kathy did not imply that these were unreported cases or that she was acting as a whistleblower to report unknown information to the letter’s recipients. Quite the contrary, she accurately pointed to the public outcry surrounding these cases. Moreover, never in writing or in discussions did she or anyone else mention the heinous actions of Larry Nassar. As I often have said, even one act of sexual violence is too many. Yet, it is extremely important to know that in no way was I ever notified of Larry Nassar’s abhorrent acts. I only learned of his crimes when they were reported by the media in August 2016.

More:

Michigan State needs transparency, accountability and culture change

Couch: If needed change at MSU includes Dantonio, Izzo, so be it – but let's slow down

Far from ignoring Kathy’s letter, within one month of first hearing her concerns, I held a meeting with her and a legal expert she wanted to include, Wendy Murphy. I asked our General Counsel, Scott Bearby, to join me in what was a constructive conversation at the national office for an hour and a half. I took her concerns very seriously, found her thoughts and advice constructive, and subsequently asked her to join an upcoming event we were planning, the NCAA’s first Violence Prevention Summit in April 2011. I communicated in writing to Kathy in early December (see letter attached). National office staff responsible for the NCAA’s educational programming also continued interacting with Kathy and invited her to participate in the Career in Sports Forum and student-athlete leadership development workshops.

Following the Violence Prevention Summit, I encouraged and financially supported the research and development of best practices that the Summit called for. This work led to our first Think Tank in 2012 and the 2014 publication of the Handbook on Addressing Sexual Assault and Interpersonal Violence. Additionally, with my encouragement, in 2014 the Board of Governors issued a Statement on Sexual Violence Prevention and Complaint Resolution based on a unanimous vote. This is the first time the NCAA member schools have stated unambiguously their expectations around the handling of sexual violence on campuses. In 2016, we released the Sexual Violence Prevention Tool Kit which has now been widely praised in the higher education and assault prevention community. During this time, we also engaged with our national SAACs to begin work with the Obama Administration on the It’s On Us campaign, providing guidance and financial support for the creation of student-based efforts at assault prevention. This included recognizing the student projects by running their videos at our national championship events, a program we continue today. The NCAA was praised by the White House for this work.

Most recently, the Board of Governors created the Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence that now routinely reports to and brings recommendations to the Board for action. The Commission has developed the recently passed policy requiring annual sexual violence education for athletes, coaches and administrators with annual written verification from the president, athletic director and Title IX coordinator on every campus. Further, the Commission led the first ever Higher Education Think Tank on Sexual Violence involving 20 higher education organizations just last week. In short, a great deal has been done since 2010. I have attached a graphic that more fully addresses the comprehensive efforts by the NCAA in the area of sexual assault prevention.

Our work to prevent sexual assault on campuses has much further to go. There can be no room for this scourge anywhere in higher education. The assertion that I and the NCAA are not reporting crimes, however, is blatantly false. We cannot let stories of this kind deter us from our important work.

Mark
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https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jan/28/women-packed-court-gets-coast-guard-rape-convictio/

Coast Guard rape conviction overturned after court’s scathing attack on women-packed jury
By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times - Sunday, January 28, 2018

The nation’s highest military court has thrown out the 2012 rape conviction of a Coast Guard enlisted man because admirals and prosecutors packed the seven-member jury with five women, four of whom held jobs as advocates for victims of sexual assault.

In a 5-0 ruling that could change how the military conducts sex abuse trials, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces unleashed caustic criticism of all involved.

From the Coast Guard commandant down to an appellate court to the original trial judge, the high court said all contributed to a “stain on the military justice system.” The military has been under intense pressure to wipe out sexual harassment and assault, the five civilian judges noted.

The opinion, delivered by Judge Margaret A. Ryan, said the four admirals who played a role in assembling the officer and enlisted jury pool produced an illegal “gender-based court stacking.” She suggested that the admirals’ role amounted to unlawful command influence, which military law analysts see as the enemy of fair trials for service members.

The court ruling said the trial judge “failed to conduct even a rudimentary investigation” into defense attorneys’ complaints of an unfair jury.

It also said the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals failed in its duty to protect against unlawful command influence as it “rationalized the error away as a benign effort to seek inclusiveness.”

“Yet the error in this case is both so obvious and so egregious that it adversely affected not only Appellant’s right to a fair trial by an impartial panel, but also the essential fairness and integrity of the military justice system,” Judge Ryan and the four other judges wrote.

Even worse, the high court suggested that the enlisted man never would have been convicted by a more gender-proportionate jury. It said the evidence was so weak that a hearing officer had recommended dismissing the charges. The admiral overseeing the case overruled him.

“The Government’s case was weak, primarily based on the testimony of [name redacted], the putative victim, who was unable to remember many of the events surrounding the crime due to alcohol use and whose testimony was controverted by other witnesses at trial,” the opinion read.

One of the admirals involved in jury selection is Coast Guard Commandant Paul F. Zukunft. He was the last of four convening authorities of the rape trial.

Adm. Zukunft told a hearing judge that he was unaware of jury stacking. The appeals court rejected his excuse.

“As our cases on court stacking make clear, the actual ignorance of the convening authority does not insulate him or her from the errors or misconduct of his or her subordinates, which are errors affecting the court-martial selection process and court stacking nonetheless,” the opinion read.

“As we stated long ago, even reasonable doubt concerning the use of improper panel selection criteria will not be tolerated in the military justice system,” it read.

The high court judges harshly criticized all involved, implying that their goal was to win a conviction.

“The salient facts paint a clear picture of court stacking based on gender in an atmosphere of external pressure to achieve specific results in sexual assault cases,” the ruling read. “Against that backdrop, purposefully selecting a panel that is seventy percent female, most of whom are victim advocates, from a roster of officers that was only twenty percent female and a pool of enlisted that was only thirteen percent female, smacks of a panel that was ‘hand-picked’ by or for the Government.”

The judges used the word “absurdity” in their assessment of assembling a jury pool of 70 percent women based on inclusiveness. “As a matter of common sense, 70 percent is not statistically or otherwise ‘representative,’” their ruling read.

Ten jurors were selected, and seven of them were women. Of those jurors, five women and two men heard evidence, deliberated and rendered a verdict. Of those five women, four were assigned as advocates for victims of sexual misconduct.

The judges threw out the court-martial convictions of Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class John C. Riesbeck “with prejudice,” meaning the Coast Guard may not retry him.

Petty Officer Riesbeck was convicted of rape, two charges of making false statements and one charge of communicating indecent language. The jury sentenced him to three months of confinement, a reduction in rank and a bad-conduct discharge. Adm. Zukunft approved the punishment.

The appeals court quoted from a fact-finding judge who said, “Senior Coast Guard and Department of Defense leadership faced intense external pressure to do more about preventing and responding to sexual assaults,” and the Coast Guard adopted “a combat-like campaign in the ‘righteous’ cause of fighting sexual assault.”

“Due to the patent and intolerable efforts to manipulate the member selection process, contra every requirement of the law,” the appeals court said, adding that the only way to rectify the “clear court stacking” was to dismiss the charges without retrial.

Judge Ryan specifically criticized the Coast Guard appeals court, to which the high court had sent back the case for a new hearing only to have that court reaffirm the conviction.

“The fact that this case with these facts is returned to us for a second time, rather than attended to at trial, at the [post-trial] hearing or by the [appeals court], is a stain on the military justice system,” she wrote. “The duty to protect service members against unlawful command influence is not ours alone.”

The Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security, but its 40,000 personnel — about 10 percent of whom are women — come under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as do all military personnel.

Intense media focus in recent years centered on sexual abuse in the military. Last year, the scandal spilled with big splashes into the worlds of entertainment, journalism, politics and the arts, with scores of accused actors, directors, photographers, government officials, musicians, reporters and editors.

https://twt-media.washtimes.com/media/misc/2018/01/28/coast_guard.pdf
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...admirals and prosecutors packed the seven-member jury with five women, four of whom held jobs as advocates for victims of sexual assault.
4 of 7! That gives 'em a 57% likelihood there's no chance of all jurors agreeing to not guilty!
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