Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute places a recent controversy at a major Midwestern university in a larger context.
Michigan State University has announced a $2.4 million retirement deal for former MSU president Lou Anna Simon, who was forced out of office last year after MSU’s crippling sexual assault scandal. Simon stands charged with two felonies and is accused of lying to law enforcement officials about what she knew regarding the abuse of more than 150 women over nearly three decades. In addition to its three-year pay-out to Simon, the university will provide a generous benefits package. …
… Simon served as president of MSU from 2005 to 2018, receiving accolades as she grew the institution’s funding and enrollment. Simon’s being oblivious (or turning a blind eye) to an egregious pattern of criminal abuse during the entirety of her tenure has apparently been judged no reason for her to lose access to football tickets or top-flight dental coverage.
And, make no mistake, the behavior that unfolded on Simon’s watch was egregious. …
… And yet, getting a pass for being asleep at the switch seems pretty much the norm when it comes to leaders at America’s colleges. Take this spring’s “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal, in which the FBI implicated nearly a dozen prestigious colleges in a scandal that included bribery, cheating, and record falsification. Participating parents and the sleaze-merchants who orchestrated this scheme are being prosecuted, and the occasional crew coach has been fired.
The administrators and college presidents who blithely presided over this corruption? They’ve gotten off scot-free. That comes on the heels of college leaders standing inert in the face of steadily rising tuition, and enabling student efforts to bully scholarly speakers, local businesses, and even their own faculty.
