ESPN's Outside the Lines details systematic failure of Michigan State to handle sexual assault, violence against women
The findings at Michigan State continue to get worse.
According to a lengthy and disturbing report by ESPN’s Outside the Lines, Michigan State has suffered from years of inaction and suppression by the school following claims of sexual assault, violence and intimidation of women on campus. Many of which involve Mark Dantonio’s football program and Tom Izzo’s basketball program.
One item that’s particularly noteworthy given the Larry Nassar scandal, Outside the Lines reports that the school’s Title IX office did not begin investigating Nassar until 17 years after the first complaint was filed against the recently convicted sex predator.
Another incident detailed by the report includes an assistant basketball coach who punched a female MSU student in the face. He was allowed to continue his coaching career at the school and months later was accused of sexually assaulting another females student.
According to Lauren Allswede, a former MSU sexual assault counselor at the school, one of the main problems at the school has been the handling of accusations. Allswede, we left her position in 2015, claims the school’s AD Mark Hollis and sometimes MSU coaches were the ones that handled accusations.
“Whatever protocol or policy was in place, whatever frontline staff might normally be involved in response or investigation, it all got kind of swept away and it was handled more by administration [and] athletic department officials,” says Allswede to ESPN. “It was all happening behind closed doors. … None of it was transparent or included people who would normally be involved in certain decisions.”
