Michigan State board to consider payout to Nassar victims
By ALICE YIN, Associated Press
Jun 21, 2018 11:36 PM CDT
FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2018, file photo, Larry Nassar appears for his sentencing at Eaton County Circuit Court in Charlotte, Mich. A letter signed by at least 120 victims sexual abuse by former sports doctor Nassar on Tuesday, June 19, urged Michigan State University’s governing board to oust interim...   (Associated Press)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State's board of trustees will address a plan Friday to pay a $500 million settlement to Larry Nassar's victims, a meeting that comes amid calls for the school's interim president to resign over recent comments about some of the women and girls the former sports doctor sexually assaulted.

Although the board appears to lack the votes to oust John Engler from his interim perch, the public meeting likely will be heavily attended by people who are fed up with Engler and want him gone. The primary focus of the meeting is the school's budget, along with the settlement plan.

Some 150 of Nassar's victims have joined a public crusade to force Engler out of the interim job. Last week, two university trustees also signaled they could call a vote during a board meeting Friday on whether to fire him.

Engler apologized Thursday for his April email exchange suggesting gymnast Rachael Denhollander probably received a "kickback" from her plaintiff's attorney.

"I didn't give it the consideration it warranted," Engler said in a statement. "That was a big mistake. I was wrong. I apologize."

Trustee board chairman Brian Breslin called Engler's apology "appropriate and appreciated by a majority of the board." One of the two trustees who turned on Engler, Dianne Byrum, said she is glad he apologized and hopes he learned from it. But Brian Mosallam, the first trustee to demand that Engler step down, said in a tweet Thursday that the apology "is too little too late."

Denhollander said she appreciates Engler's gesture but remains convinced he cannot lead the university forward.

"I am disappointed that it took eight days and came on the heels of intense political pressure," she said on Thursday. "The most disturbing thing is that these comments are not isolated. They are a pattern that reveals a mindset toward assault survivors. And words don't change that mindset."

Denhollander said Engler, who did not address her by name in the statement, did not reach out personally to apologize.

When asked in a Thursday interview with The Associated Press why his apology took a week, Engler said he was traveling out of state and "wasn't as focused on it." He said when he returned and realized the reaction, he wanted to make his position clear in an apology.

Engler touted some of the policies the university has implemented to avert future crises like the Nassar one.

"Could another Larry Nassar ever emerge in Michigan State?" Engler said. "I think the answer quite clearly is no because of the policies that have all been changed."

Engler was tapped in February to temporarily lead the university after the crisis surrounding Nassar, who abused hundreds of girls and women under the guise of medical treatment while employed at Michigan State. Nassar is now serving a decades-long prison sentence for molesting patients and possessing child pornography.

However, Engler's presidency has become tangled in further public relations scandals of his own doing. The backlash reached a fever pitch last week, when media reports revealed the emails he sent in April criticizing lawyers for Nassar's sexual assault victims and suggesting that Denhollander, the first woman to go public with her accusations, was probably getting a "kickback" from her attorney.

"The survivors now are being manipulated by trial lawyers who in the end will each get millions of dollars more than any of individual survivors with the exception of Denhollander who is likely to get kickback from Manley," Engler said, misspelling attorney John Manly's name.

He was found to have exchanged the emails following allegations at a stormy public meeting that Engler was trying to pay off another Nassar survivor, Kaylee Lorincz, without her lawyer's input. Engler later said he remembered the events differently and that "I am sorry if anything said during the meeting was misunderstood."

In his Thursday statement, Engler said when he started as president in February he never meant to have an adversarial relationship with some of Nassar's victims. He said his speculation about Denhollander "hurt her deeply," and other survivors "suffered greatly."

A grass-roots student group has garnered at least 1,000 signatures in its petition calling for Engler's ouster and is not backing down.

"One apology for the months of anger and disrespect he has shown our community means nothing," said Reclaim MSU spokeswoman Katie Paulot, who will be a sophomore this fall. "Engler has to go, now."

Morgan McCaul, another Nassar victim, said in a written statement she also isn't accepting his apology.

"It is unfortunate that it took over a thousand signatures calling for his resignation and a two-day workshop with his employers for Mr. Engler to produce this apology," McCaul said. "I remain firm in my belief that he is unfit to lead the University in this sensitive time."

Both McCaul and Lorincz plan to speak at the public meeting on Friday.

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