(WXYZ) — Michigan State University leadership announced on Thursday that the school is planning an institutional assessment in partnership with a new advisory board to help protect students against sexual misconduct.
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The assessment will review the school’s structure, policies and culture.
The board will include three abuse survivors who are also assault prevention and institutional health experts.
“At Michigan State University, it is our responsibility to acknowledge our history and seek opportunities for healing through our commitment to continuous improvement,” said Michigan State University President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., in a statement. “To that end, we are partnering with experts who are professionals in their respective fields to identify a firm to perform an institutional assessment of our culture, structure and policies. This assessment is an opportunity to embark on a journey of historical accountability; recognize progress in prevention, support, reporting and response efforts, ensuring future policies are informed by best practices; and identify additional areas for growth and improvement.”
The board will reportedly collaborate with survivors and stakeholders, develop criteria for the proposal, review proposals and interview firms for the assessment before making a recommendation to the university president. The board will also help guide the process of the assessment once a firm is selected.
The university has outlined the following goals of the institutional assessment:
- ensure historical accountability by acknowledging past institutional failures and assessing corrective actions;
- provide a benchmark for progress, allowing the university to independently verify improvements;
- identify gaps in prevention, support, reporting and response efforts, and put forth recommended actions that are informed by survivor-centered best practices.
“I am deeply encouraged by the steps Michigan State University and its leadership are taking today,” said Rachael Denhollander in a statement.
Denhollander was the first gymnast to publicly accuse Larry Nassar of sexual assault.
“After years of working in institutional health, crisis response and victim care, it is profoundly meaningful to be able to engage in this capacity on a project and with a team with such personal significance.
Eight years is a long time to wait for these processes, but my hope is that the steps taken today, and in the days that follow, serve to remind us all that it is never too late to do what is right. It is never too late for leadership to choose a fully new direction. Growth is a process which is critical to personal and community flourishing — a process that takes courage and integrity to both begin and follow through, but it is a process we should never be afraid to engage in together, knowing that all of us, daily, must seek to learn and grow,” she said in part.
Denhollander stated that she hopes the processes they are able to create will serve as a model for other institutions.
More information on the assessment process can be found here.
Larry Nassar is serving decades in prison for convictions in state and federal courts. He admitted sexually assaulting athletes when he worked at Michigan State University and at Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians.
Previous report: DOJ blasts FBI's handling of Larry Nassar investigation
More than 150 women and girls testified during the 2018 sentencing of Nassar, who molested athletes under the guise of medical treatment. Some of them testified that — over the course of more than two decades of sexual abuse — they had told adults, including coaches and athletic trainers, what was happening but that it went unreported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
