1. Simon wouldn’t have held the infamous Kaylee Lorincz meeting 2. Simon did not ordinarily receive reports in Title IX cases and did not in Nassar’s 3. Simon is concerned about the effect a bureaucracy has on silencing reports 4. Simon still defends having two different versions of the report in Amanda Thomashow’s 2014 complaint 5. There was no policy of asking volunteers’ employers about allegations of misconduct, but there will be post-Nassar 6. It doesn’t seem that Simon intends to exit the public eye, at least in the context of fighting sexual abuse

On Tuesday, June 5, former MSU President Lou Anna Simon testified at a hearing of the United States Senate’s Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security. She spoke alongside Rhonda Faehn, the former Women’s Program Director of USA Gymnastics. The former President of that organization, Steve Penny, invoked his Fifth Amendment right to silence multiple times and was eventually excused.

Simon was subpoenaed to testify after initially agreeing to do so at a May 22 hearing date. That hearing was postponed due to witness unavailability, and Simon was served with a subpoena forcing her to attend the June 5th session.

The nearly three hours of testimony shed some new light on Simon’s role in the Nassar scandal and how she views her actions today. Here are the six biggest takeaways from her testimony.

1. Simon wouldn’t have held the infamous Kaylee Lorincz meeting

In April, Nassar survivor Kaylee Lorincz alleged that Interim President John Engler offered her $250,000 during a meeting without her attorney present. Outrage toward Engler was widespread afterward, and it seems that Simon was among his critics.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) asked, “Would you have taken a meeting with [Lorincz] without her attorney present?” Simon responded, “Not to make an offer for any kind of settlement agreement.”

As far as I can tell, this is the closest we’ve seen to Simon commenting on any of the University’s actions since her resignation, let alone criticizing them.

2. Simon did not ordinarily receive reports in Title IX cases and did not in Nassar’s

Responding to a question from Senator Gary Peters (D-Michigan), Simon claimed that she told a Title IX officer to “play it with a straight bat” in 2014 when she was informed that an unnamed sports medicine physician was being investigated. Simon noted that she would not usually receive reports in Title IX cases, particularly when there was no finding of responsibility, as was the case here.

3. Simon is concerned about the effect a bureaucracy has on silencing reports

Simon attributed part of the cultural problem at MSU to her own hesitance to report things without having evidence herself.

“[I need to] lower the barrier for when I react with my gut, as opposed to all the regulations and all the policy. . . . It’s very hard if I feel like something’s not right to say it without evidence, and we’ve got to find a way to lower that barrier so that more people can be wrong when they report as opposed to having to be so right when they report,” said Simon, noting that this was one of her “great concerns in [her] reflections.”

I think that this is the closest thing we’ve seen to Simon honestly looking inward and identifying a way that she herself failed in her handling of the situation.

4. Simon still defends having two different versions of the report in Amanda Thomashow’s 2014 complaint about Nassar

After Amanda Thomashow filed a Title IX complaint against Nassar in 2014, she received a different copy of the report. The report Nassar and his superiors received outlined ways in which the current policies and procedures could open the University up to liability.

Simon called it an “opportunity to improve the quality of the work being done by the individual, and to do that in a way that made the responsible administrator and the individual responsible for following through on those actions.”

5. There was no policy of asking volunteers’ employers about allegations of misconduct, but there will be post-Nassar

Simon’s understanding was that Nassar was a volunteer through USA Gymnastics and the Olympics, and she said that no one asked USAG if Nassar had been accused of any misconduct.

The former President said that the University “just assumed” Nassar was credible because of his association with the Olympics, and that “it was a tyranny of assumptions.” That would not have happened under a forthcoming policy, according to Simon.

6. It doesn’t seem that Simon intends to exit the public eye, at least in the context of fighting sexual abuse

Simon concluded her testimony by saying, “I would echo again my apology to the victims, the survivors — those we know and those we don’t. And a way in which I hope to contribute is that while we acted imperfectly, and I wish we had known sooner, I would like to be very much a part of the conversation about the solution.”

A video of the full hearing is available on C-SPAN. I have an edited version focusing on Simon’s testimony available for podcast listeners.

All photos via C-SPAN.

Tyler Silvestri Tyler Silvestri is a third-year law student at MSU who received his bachelor’s degree in Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy from MSU’s James Madison College in 2017. He spent one year as the Assistant Director of ASMSU’s Student Rights Advocates and two years as a Resident Assistant. He is the Chairperson of the University Committee on Academic Governance. He can be reached at Tyler@onthebanksmsu.com. See author's posts