Larry Nassar survivors, Michigan State students to rally against MSU president
Survivors of Larry Nassar’s decades-long sexual abuse, inflicted under the guise of sports medicine treatment for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, will join MSU students at a rally on Friday calling for the resignations of the school’s interim president, John Engler, and its Board of Trustees.
Morgan McCaul, one of Nassar’s survivors who now number into the hundreds, will headline the Rally for Resignations on the steps of Michigan State’s administration building at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
“Cover-ups, secret payoffs, lies and accusations, ignorance … at this point, the Michigan State University administration has done it all,” a statement reads on the Facebook page for the event. “It’s time that we demand better leadership on the MSU campus, for the students and Survivors who deserve so much better! TAKE BACK YOUR VOICE FROM THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE SILENCED IT.”
The rally comes on the heels of a Michigan State Board of Trustees meeting in which survivor Kaylee Lorincz stood in front of Engler and accused him of both offering her $250,000 for her silence and calling the recent sexual misconduct arrest of Nassar’s former boss at the school, William Strampel, “just a slap on the butt,” before the interim president and former Michigan governor cut her short.
Lorincz’s story was met with shock by those in attendance and serves as inspiration for the rally.
“The current administration has fostered a toxic culture of sexual violence and secrecy, where MSU students are exploited without consequence,” McCaul said in a statement to the school’s student newspaper, The State News. “This is where Me Too MSU and Reclaim MSU join hands with the community at large to make our voices heard. I hope everyone who feels frustrated or silenced by the current Board of Trustees to attend the event. And I hope that the University’s administration can’t help but finally face the cries of their constituents.”
In addition to calling for Engler’s resignation at the rally, Reclaim MSU will lay out its plan to ensure student and faculty representation on the Board of Governors, according to the Lansing State Journal.
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Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
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