A week ago, Larry Nassar, team doctor at U.S.A. Gymnastics and physician at Michigan State University, was sentenced up to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting hundreds of young women in the Team U.S.A. and M.S.U. gymnastics programs.
As made clear in gut-wrenching fashion throughout his trial, the women he abused were let down repeatedly by their family and friends, their mentors and institutions. Over 100 of his accusers provided testimonies at his sentencing. Each story seemed satisfactory to put Nassar away for life. They varied in content and emotion, but each one emulated the last in raising the question: Why wasn’t anything done?
At the hearings, the mother of a victim spoke of her daughter who quit gymnastics, spiraled into depression and committed suicide after Nassar assaulted her. Another victim said that her father killed himself due to guilt of believing Nassar over her.
These women spoke out well before the hearing, but were dismissed. These women told the people in power at Michigan State of this abuse, but Michigan State refused to listen.
It’s easy to view the Nassar case as a case of institutional failure. It’s easy to see the pattern of institutional negligence, in similar instances in recent memory. The obvious comparison is the abuse perpetrated by Jerry Sandusky at Pennsylvania State University. People lost their jobs, administration officials were charged, pled guilty, served time and the school was fined a record-breaking $2.4 million by the federal government.
At Michigan State, more than 10 university officials, inside and outside of the athletic department, have been implicated in enabling Nassar. Rightfully, many of these officials have already resigned or lost their jobs. In addition, the state attorney general appointed a special prosecutor to the case and the NCAA has opened an investigation into the case’s handling at Michigan State.
Still, institutional irresponsibility is not limited to circumstances of abuse.
The academic fraud previously perpetrated by this university is by no means analogous to the Nassar case, but it is an interesting cautionary tale in institutional power. UNC recently concluded an ordeal that embroiled a former chancellor, disgraced several professors and discredited a few academic departments. Despite this, the NCAA conferred no sanction, and the accreditation agency maintained our status. Only seven people were fired or disciplined. It should be noted that UNC did make reforms on its own, but those didn't come without pressures from the media and public.
While as students we rejoice in the fact that legitimacy has been restored to our degrees and similarly cherished athletic teams, we must be wary of the leeway given to leaders of this institution and others, who are insulated, given their enormous institutional sway, from being held to account.
