Ex-msu President Simon Subpoenaed While on Vacation in Traverse City

By Todd Spangler
Detroit Free Press
May 30, 2018

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/05/30/michigan-state-president-lou-anna-simon/656684002/

MSU President Lou Anna Simon arrives Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 17, 2018, in Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina's courtroom during the second day of victim impact statements regarding former sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar, who pled guilty to seven counts of sexual assault in Ingham County, and three in Eaton County, Mich.

Former Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon was served a congressional subpoena on Wednesday morning to force her attendance at a subcommittee hearing on the Larry Nassar scandal next week.

Both the Senate Commerce Committee and Simon's attorney, Mayer Morganroth, acknowledged to the Free Press that federal marshals served the subpoena on Simon in Traverse City, where she is on vacation.

Morganroth said she will appear at the hearing, even though he said, "There is not much she can say. ... They know that. She didn’t have any direct contact at all with Nassar."

The Free Press reported Tuesday that Simon was set to testify next Tuesday before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Security, which has been investigating whether Olympic athletes have been preyed upon by sexual predators and what steps are being taken to ensure athletes are safe. The subcommittee is part of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Nassar — a former sports doctor for USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee and an employee at Michigan State — has been sentenced to decades in prison, after being accused of molesting more than 200 girls and young women. Simon stepped down Jan. 24 amid criticism that MSU did not adequately respond to warnings and allegations made against him sooner.

At the time, Simon said that while there was no cover-up, "blame is inevitable."

Morganroth said that Simon had agreed to appear at an earlier hearing, initially scheduled for May 22, which was then canceled days before it took place and rescheduled without any regard to his or her availability, causing them to balk at the request, especially since he said they know she has little to offer their investigation.

"It's getting silly and ridiculous but if they want her to come, we're happy to do it," he said after she was served the subpoena.

The hearing is set to begin at 3 p.m. in Washington and will include testimony from Rhonda Faehn, the former women's program director at USA Gymnastics, and Steve Penny, the former president of USA Gymnastics.

Contact Todd Spangler: 703-854-8947 or tspangler@freepress.com . Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.