It definitely seems like they are still employed only because MSU doesn't want to accept any institutional blame. Their concern about financial liability in the civil suits seems to drive all of MSU's decisions. Doing the right thing doesn't factor in. Neither does taking a big picture view that the hit to their reputation long term will cost them much more than payouts in the civil suits.
Non-freep link:
http://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/...are-still-on-job-ex-athletes-say/69-533463070
Freep link:
https://www.freep.com/story/news/20...gh-informed-nassar-ex-athletes-say/417731002/
Two Michigan State University employees who allegedly were aware of complaints years ago against Larry Nassar are still on the job, raising continuing questions about the university’s response to abuses by the former Olympic doctor that go back decades.
The two athletic trainers were informed nearly 20 years ago of incidents in which Nassar made athletes uncomfortable during appointments, according to two former athletes. It's unclear what the trainers did with the information, but Nassar wasn't stopped.
Employees who were informed about abuse and failed to act should be fired, said John Manly, an attorney who represents dozens of women suing the university and its officials.
"If they reported, hundreds of girls would have been spared," he said of the trainers. "They obviously didn't."
Former athletes have said athletic trainers Teachnor-Hauk and Lianna Hadden received complaints about Nassar in the early 2000s.
The trainers, according to athletes and investigative records, described Nassar’s treatments as medically appropriate — using a model of a pelvis to explain the procedure — and conveyed to young women what pursuing complaints against Nassar would involve.
Teachnor-Hauk was twice interviewed as part of investigations into Nassar — once in 2014 by an MSU official and, last year, by police. Both times, she reported that no athlete had ever expressed discomfort with Nassar.
Teachnor-Hauk did, however, say under questioning in the police interview that she had heard athletes discuss Nassar doing procedures near their vaginas, and she would use a pelvis model to "redirect" their understanding of the treatment, according to a police report obtained by the Lansing State Journal.
Scott Schneider — an attorney with Fisher Phillips, a national labor and employment law firm — said there could be multiple reasons why the university hasn’t taken action.
MSU may have investigated and determined employees did nothing wrong or there could be a concern that firing employees for wrongdoing could be an acknowledgement of the institution’s failures, said Schneider, who said he specializes in Title IX issues and institutional response to sexual misconduct.
“I think Michigan State’s in the midst of kind of a reckoning here, where they may have to, at some point, acknowledge, yes, there is wrongdoing here,” he said, adding that will have an impact on the civil lawsuits.
“I felt like she didn’t believe me,” Lopez said. “She called me crazy; she told me I was crazy for thinking that … the treatment that I had been receiving this entire time wasn’t, like, actual medical treatment.”
She said Teachnor-Hauk told her that filing a complaint would draw attention to the school and herself and would be a burden on her family — a reference, Lopez said, to her stepmother recently passing away.
James White, an Okemos-based attorney who is representing several women in lawsuits against the university, said Nassar was repeatedly believed by people, including employees such as the trainers, over women alleging abuse.
This, he said, is inexcusable.
"Here, there was an immediate deference to the individuals whom allegations have been made against," White said. "I think that's inappropriate and it's reckless."
Manly, who represents Lopez, said he is unsatisfied with MSU's response.
“The message that sends is either that we don’t believe you or we don’t care,” he said.
Former MSU volleyball player Jennifer Rood Bedford also has said she informed Hadden in the early 2000s that something felt wrong after her treatment from Nassar.
Lindsey Lemke, a former MSU gymnast who said she was sexually assaulted by Nassar, questioned why trainers who had been informed about Nassar would be allowed to continue working with athletes.
Lemke said she had to take a medical disqualification from competing this year because of injuries, but was still working with the team as a student coach. In that position, she regularly saw Teachnor-Hauk, who is the team’s trainer.
“If someone’s being investigated for knowing about sexual assault, you should be suspended,” Lemke said in an interview with the Free Press.
“I think the main thing that’s frustrating,” she said, “is the enablers who have not been held accountable.”
Non-freep link:
http://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/...are-still-on-job-ex-athletes-say/69-533463070
Freep link:
https://www.freep.com/story/news/20...gh-informed-nassar-ex-athletes-say/417731002/
Two Michigan State University employees who allegedly were aware of complaints years ago against Larry Nassar are still on the job, raising continuing questions about the university’s response to abuses by the former Olympic doctor that go back decades.
The two athletic trainers were informed nearly 20 years ago of incidents in which Nassar made athletes uncomfortable during appointments, according to two former athletes. It's unclear what the trainers did with the information, but Nassar wasn't stopped.
Employees who were informed about abuse and failed to act should be fired, said John Manly, an attorney who represents dozens of women suing the university and its officials.
"If they reported, hundreds of girls would have been spared," he said of the trainers. "They obviously didn't."
Former athletes have said athletic trainers Teachnor-Hauk and Lianna Hadden received complaints about Nassar in the early 2000s.
The trainers, according to athletes and investigative records, described Nassar’s treatments as medically appropriate — using a model of a pelvis to explain the procedure — and conveyed to young women what pursuing complaints against Nassar would involve.
Teachnor-Hauk was twice interviewed as part of investigations into Nassar — once in 2014 by an MSU official and, last year, by police. Both times, she reported that no athlete had ever expressed discomfort with Nassar.
Teachnor-Hauk did, however, say under questioning in the police interview that she had heard athletes discuss Nassar doing procedures near their vaginas, and she would use a pelvis model to "redirect" their understanding of the treatment, according to a police report obtained by the Lansing State Journal.
Scott Schneider — an attorney with Fisher Phillips, a national labor and employment law firm — said there could be multiple reasons why the university hasn’t taken action.
MSU may have investigated and determined employees did nothing wrong or there could be a concern that firing employees for wrongdoing could be an acknowledgement of the institution’s failures, said Schneider, who said he specializes in Title IX issues and institutional response to sexual misconduct.
“I think Michigan State’s in the midst of kind of a reckoning here, where they may have to, at some point, acknowledge, yes, there is wrongdoing here,” he said, adding that will have an impact on the civil lawsuits.
“I felt like she didn’t believe me,” Lopez said. “She called me crazy; she told me I was crazy for thinking that … the treatment that I had been receiving this entire time wasn’t, like, actual medical treatment.”
She said Teachnor-Hauk told her that filing a complaint would draw attention to the school and herself and would be a burden on her family — a reference, Lopez said, to her stepmother recently passing away.
James White, an Okemos-based attorney who is representing several women in lawsuits against the university, said Nassar was repeatedly believed by people, including employees such as the trainers, over women alleging abuse.
This, he said, is inexcusable.
"Here, there was an immediate deference to the individuals whom allegations have been made against," White said. "I think that's inappropriate and it's reckless."
Manly, who represents Lopez, said he is unsatisfied with MSU's response.
“The message that sends is either that we don’t believe you or we don’t care,” he said.
Former MSU volleyball player Jennifer Rood Bedford also has said she informed Hadden in the early 2000s that something felt wrong after her treatment from Nassar.
Lindsey Lemke, a former MSU gymnast who said she was sexually assaulted by Nassar, questioned why trainers who had been informed about Nassar would be allowed to continue working with athletes.
Lemke said she had to take a medical disqualification from competing this year because of injuries, but was still working with the team as a student coach. In that position, she regularly saw Teachnor-Hauk, who is the team’s trainer.
“If someone’s being investigated for knowing about sexual assault, you should be suspended,” Lemke said in an interview with the Free Press.
“I think the main thing that’s frustrating,” she said, “is the enablers who have not been held accountable.”
