Michigan State University was accused of covering up what is believed to be the biggest sexual abuse scandal in U.S. sports – and just hours after gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar’s sentencing Wednesday, Lou Anna Simon stepped down as president.
However, Simon is expected to collect her full presidential salary for two years with many added benefits, including lifetime free tickets to MSU football games and paid research leave if she returns as faculty.
According to her contract, she can choose to return as faculty with a salary of $750,000 for up to two years, an office space and secretarial support, as well as the title of “president emeritus.”
Simon’s compensation package raises questions when compared to past presidents, according to James Finkelstein, a professor emeritus of public policy at George Mason University who studies college presidential compensation.
“It would appear that Dr. Simon will be paid more than twice the amount of the most highly paid faculty member in the College of Education,” Finkelstein added. “In addition, she will be paid more than the most highly paid faculty member in the entire university, C. Konrad Gelbke who makes $433,441. He is one of the world’s leading physicists.” – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]The Michigan judge who sentenced disgraced USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar to as many as 175 years in prison on Tuesday has come under scrutiny for her sentencing remarks, which critics contend may have crossed a line.
Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina concluded Nassar’s sentencing in dramatic fashion. After reading excerpts from a letter he had recently written to her, she threw the paper aside as if it were a piece of trash. The gesture was immediately made into a popular .gif and shared on social media sites.
This GIF of Judge Aquilina throwing away the letter Larry Nassar wrote the court about how hard it is for him to listen to victim testimonies PRETTY MUCH SAYS IT ALL. pic.twitter.com/5HB9WMaPqU
— Ellie Hall (@ellievhall) January 24, 2018
Aquilina then sentenced Nassar to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting young female athletes.
“I just signed your death warrant,” Aquilina now famously declared.
The reaction by the judge was met by cheers and jeers. Four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, one of the many who came forward accusing Nassar of sexual abuse, called Aquilina her “hero.”
Others didn’t feel the same way. Kevin Daley, a reporter with the Daily Caller, called the judge “disgraceful” in a column.
“The judge told Nassar he could not be rehabilitated, took enormous satisfaction in, as she put it, signing his death warrant, and openly mused about subjecting him to gang rape,” Daley wrote.
During the sentencing, Aquilina told Nassar: “If [the U.S. Constitution] did, I have to say, I might allow what [Nassar] did to all of these beautiful souls ― these young women in their childhood ― I would allow some or many people to do to him what he did to others.”
Graeme Wood, a reporter with The Atlantic, felt Aquilina’s “beautiful souls” remark crossed a line, too.
“The dignity of the proceedings was diminished by a few words, though, that the judge offered by way of regret,” Wood wrote. “… Subjecting Nassar to a lifetime of rape is not my idea of justice, and fantasizing about it is not my idea of judicial temperament.” – READ MORE
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