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Gymnasts Say Michigan Too Easy on Sex Predators; New Nassar Probe

By Beth Dalbey
Dearborn Patch
February 27, 2018

https://patch.com/michigan/dearborn/s/gd60n/gymnasts-say-michigan-too-easy-sex-predators-new-nassar-probe



Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is launching a Title IX investigation into Michigan State University's handling of sexual abuse complaints against former sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar. DeVos announced the investigation Monday, the same day some Nassar abuse survivors — including 2012 Olympic gymnast and gold medalist Jordyn Wieber and Rachael Denhollander, the first gymnast to publicly accuse him — asked lawmakers in Michigan to pass sweeping reform of laws they say do little to stop child sex predators.

During Nassar's recent sentencing hearings, many of the more than 265 girls and women who have accused him said Michigan State officials ignored repeated complaints that he was molesting them under the guise of medically necessary treatments. Repercussions have reverberated not only across Michigan State, but also USA Gymnastics, where Nassar was a team doctor for elite gymnasts, and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Public outcry also led to the resignation of Michigan State's longtime president, Lou Anna K. Simon, in January. The NCAA, Michigan attorney general's office and Congress also are investigating.

DeVos said the new investigation led by the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights will look at systemic issues in the university's handling of the Nassar complaints and whether it was in compliance with Title IX federal requirements on the reporting of sexual crimes committed on college campuses. The Education Department already had open inquiries into MSU's compliance with Title IX rules.

"The crimes for which Dr. Nassar has been convicted are unimaginable," DeVos said in a statement. "The bravery shown by the survivors has been remarkable. My heart goes out to them as they have had to relive their horrific experiences and as they begin the long road to healing."

Last fall, DeVos rolled back Obama-era guidance on campus sexual assault investigations, a move critics blasted as one that extends protections to assailants and sends a message to victims that their reports will be met with skepticism and doubt. DeVos has said the Obama policies were heavy-handed, skewed against those accused of assault and pushed schools to "overreach."

GYMNASTS BACK MICHIGAN REFORMS

Among the provisions in the bipartisan, 10-bill package the gymnasts advocated for is one that would dramatically extend the amount of time survivors can file civil lawsuits against their abusers to until their 48th birthday, The Associated Press reported. The proposed changes would also extend the amount of time those assaulted during adulthood would have to sue to 30 years.

As the Michigan law stands now, survivors who were minors when the abuse occurred generally lose their right to sue under two- or three-year statute of limitations laws that expire before they reach their 19th birthdays.

"We find ourselves at the top of a list we don't want to be on, as we rank among the states leading the nation in providing protective environments for predators to thrive and the worst environment for survivors to find justice," said Sterling Riethman, 25, a former collegiate diver and Nassar patient who was among more than 250 women and girls who spoke at his recent sentencing hearings.

Also at the Michigan Capitol with Riethman, Wieber and Denhollander, who alerted The Indianapolis Star to Nassar's pattern of sexual abuse in 2016, were Larissa Boyce, who reported Nassar to Michigan State's gymnastics coach in 1997, and Amanda Thomashow, whose 2014 complaint against Nassar resulted in the school clearing him.

"Do everything you can to support and protect these victims and others just like them. Make the necessary decision to ensure that this never happens again," said Thomashow, 28, who added that Nassar's survivors — who have sued the university, USA Gymnastics and others — "all deserve the same justice without a timeline for our grief or a deadline for our recovery."

The bills would also:

Add college employees and youth sports coaches, trainers and volunteers to the state's list of people who must report suspected abuse or neglect to child protective services; and stiffen criminal penalties for those mandatory reporters who fail to act.

Eliminate or lengthen the statute of limitations for prosecutors to file charges in cases of second- and third-degree sexual misconduct.

Remove the governmental immunity defense for people and institutions that allow sexual assaults to occur.

Impose no time limit on victims who sue the state for sexual misconduct that occurred when they were under 18, create harsher penalties for child porn possession and let prosecutors introduce evidence of prior sexual assaults in cases where the victim is an adult.

The legislation was expected to win quick approval Tuesday from a Senate committee. The full Senate could vote as early as next week before the bills go to the House. Denhollandar called on lawmakers to pass the measures before their summer break.

Nassar, 54, will likely die in prison. In the first of back-to-back sentencing hearings in Michigan earlier this year, Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced him to up to 175 years on 10 criminal sexual assault charges, saying at the time she had effectively signed his death warrant.

Circuit Judge Janice Cunningham in neighboring Eaton County sentenced Nassar to up to 125 years in prison on three similar charges relating to assaults at the Twistars gymnastics facility. Cunningham said there was no evidence he could be reformed and that she was not convinced he understood what he did wrong or "the devastating effect" his abuse had on his victims.

Previously, U.S. District Judge sentenced him to 60 years in prison on federal pornography charges.

Nassar is serving his sentence at a high-security federal prison in Tucson, Arizona.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo: Rachael Denhollander, who was sexually abused by Larry Nassar beginning when she was 15 years old, speaks to the press after Nassar's sentencing hearing in Eaton County Circuit Court on Feb. 5, 2018, in Charlotte, Michigan. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

 

 

 

 

 




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