https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/education/2023/10/23/whitme
r-msu-board-chair/71289004007/

GRAND RAPIDS � Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday said allegations of
misconduct by the Michigan State University Board of Trustees chair, if
accurate, would be a "serious breach of conduct." The allegations are the
latest turn in a series of spats involving the MSU board, after another
trustee issued a letter calling for the chair's removal over concerns of
bullying other trustees and university officials and meddling in
university investigations.

The State News first reported on Trustee Brianna Scott penning a letter
addressed to other board members calling for the resignation of Rema
Vassar, who chairs the board. In the letter, Scott alleges Vassar has
acted outside of her authority as board chair to singlehandedly settle
university disputes, traveled on the expense of major university donors
without submitting financial disclosures and upheld an ongoing
investigation into the leak of Brenda Tracy's name by not allowing
investigators to access her cellphone records, among other allegations.
Tracy has accused now-fired MSU football coach Mel Tucker of sexually
harassing her while she was a university vendor.

A voicemail left with the phone number listed for Vassar on MSU's website
was not immediately returned Monday. In the letter, Scott calls on Vassar
to resign and for the remaining board members to remove her as chair of
the board and refer her to the governor for removal as a trustee.

While the state constitution mandates board members at MSU, the University
of Michigan and Wayne State University be elected, state law does permit
the governor to remove an elected board member "for gross neglect of duty
or for corrupt conduct in office, or any other misfeasance."

Whitmer, speaking at an event in Grand Rapids highlighting new laws to
support families of veterans, called the allegations outlined in Scott's
letter deeply concerning.

"I'm taking it very seriously," Whitmer said during a news media scrum. "I
think the allegations, if accurate, amount to a serious breach of conduct
in what we expect of our board members and ... the oath that they took."

Whitmer added that ensuring the state's public universities have adequate
leadership is "my job as governor." While she noted the board hasn't
formally requested Vassar's removal, Whitmer remains prepared to consider
any potential request.

"It's a part of the constitution, it's a part that I take very seriously.
(It's) nothing that I have relished using, but if necessary, I will," she
said.

In Michigan, MSU, U-M and WSU are unique in electing board members � at
the state's 10 other public university systems, board members are
appointed by the governor. A joint resolution introduced in the Michigan
Senate would ask voters in the 2024 general election to decide if the
boards at MSU, U-M and WSU would also be subject to gubernatorial
appointment, but that resolution hasn't received a committee hearing yet.

The resolution was referred to the Senate Committee on Government
Operations, which seldom advances legislation to the full chamber. Still,
Whitmer panned the current system of electing board members at MSU, U-M
and WSU.

"I think that the failure of leadership at Michigan State University is
undeniable. And it's not limited to the board, but I do think that the
board is a part of it," Whitmer said. "The way that we create the board of
regents, or governors or trustees doesn't make a whole lot of sense
anymore, because I don't think it works very well."

Michigan State, in particular, has had turmoil amongst elected board
members in recent years � Nancy Schlichting resigned from the board in
October 2019 after less than a year on the board, saying she no longer
wished to serve on a board unwilling to be open or to conduct an
independent review of the actions in the past several years, including the
Larry Nassar scandal.

MSU faculty senate leaders to board:Stop interfering with academic
management

Last November, Pat O'Keefe resigned from the board over its handling of
Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at
public institutions. O'Keefe took issue with how former MSU President
Samuel Stanley and now-Interim President Teresa Woodruff handled the
forced resignation of business school dean Sanjay Gupta, over claims Gupta
did not follow mandatory reporting rules regarding sexual misconduct
complaints.

Stanley resigned last October, after saying he had lost confidence in the
MSU Board of Trustees.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24075536-letter-to-trustees-final-
10-22-2023?embed=true&responsive=false&sidebar=false

Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com. Follow him on X (Twitter)
@arpanlobo.

--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.