Michigan State's John Engler blasts ESPN's sexual assault history

As Tom Izzo was about to take the podium Saturday at Little Caesars Arena, Michigan State interim president John Engler had a tense back-and-forth exchange with a reporter about the ongoing sexual assault controversies that have engulfed the university in recent months.

The former Michigan governor blasted ESPN for its own problems with sexual assault cases, nearly two months after the network ran a story in the wake of the Larry Nassar sentencing detailing allegations into Izzo’s basketball program and Mark Dantonio’s football program.

“The 50,000 students on campus are going to class, and they want a safe environment. I think you have a safer environment today, and with the changes we are making, we’re making significant progress,” Engler told a small scrum of reporters. “That’s very much to the good and that response to the larger national debate that ESPN is wrapped up in.

“Look at the sexual assaults you guys are dealing with as a company. It’s pretty serious. In many ways, their company is one of the worst offenders in the nation. So we have a sexual assault challenge in America today. But for Michigan State, we’re dealing with it on our campus.”

According to the Associated Press, a lawsuit filed in federal court earlier this month by a former ESPN employee alleges the network has a culture of sexual harassment and then ostracizes women who complain about it.

ESPN reporter Dan Murphy followed up and asked Engler, “Do you not think Michigan State is one of the worst offenders of sexual assault right now?”

Engler answered, “Oh, I think ESPN is far worse than many companies in America today.”

Murphy countered, “That’s not the question I asked you. Do you think Michigan State is a worse offender of that?”

Said Engler, “I think Michigan State, like lots of universities, has many challenges. Michigan State alone had Nassar. He was not a doctor at any other campus. And so that is something that has caused us great pain and is a great challenge for us and the 225-250 women who filed litigation. That’s a very serious issue.

“But when you talk about sexual assault on campus, Title IX cases, then that’s something we’re dealing with. And I think when we’re finished with the changes we’re making, we’re going to be very proud of the campus we’ve got, the security that we have and the record that we set.”

The attack on ESPN is a continuation of a theme Engler touched on Thursday during a hearing before the state Senate’s higher education committee.

After he spent the first 10 minutes of his comments talking about all the ways MSU helps the state and complaining about not getting what he said was enough state aid, Engler switched over to talk about Nassar and MSU’s response.

He took the opportunity to get a dig in at ESPN. He talked about how sexual assault is a problem in lots of places. He then listed a bunch of famous people who have been accused of sexual assault, including Harvey Weinstein, and finished by saying that list includes "a lot of people at ESPN.”

Engler's comments come more than a month after he issued a fiery defense against an ESPN report that seemed to link the Larry Nassar scandal with the university’s football and men’s basketball programs, slamming the network in the Feb. 13 email to faculty and students for what he termed “a sensationalized package of reporting.”

“I viewed with great concern a recent ESPN report that gathered considerable national attention in no small part because it showed a promotional graphic of our head football and men’s basketball coaches with Larry Nassar,” Engler wrote in that email. “This was a sensationalized package of reporting that contained allegations and insinuations that we are now reviewing. The coaches were asked to refrain from comment while the reports were examined. That has been a burden that must be lifted. I hope that MSU can soon respond in full and affirm the integrity and probity that has been the hallmark of these two respected coaches.”

Engler appeared before the state Senate higher education subcommittee Thursday. He said afterward that a recent package of bills – SB 871-880 – that has moved to the House of Representatives for consideration strips MSU's ability to defend itself and gives those suing MSU more power to not negotiate for a settlement good for all parties.

On Saturday, Engler said he believes mediation and negotiation with victims would allow MSU to prevent the cases from going to trial.

“Well, I certainly hope so,” he said. “Our goal, and I said this to the senate, we’d like to see it done by the end of the semester, by the end of the school year. We think it will move that quickly.”

Engler said money needed for any settlements in lawsuits filed against Michigan State by victims of Nassar – the former sports medicine doctor convicted on multiple charges of sexually assaulting patients – will likely come from students and Michigan taxpayers.

“It will not come from endowments because that money is restricted. But it could come from taxpayers, insurance,” Engler said Saturday.

Asked why the endowments cannot be used, Engler said the money is “restricted by the donors” and the university would not consider using any money raised during the recently completed $1.5 billion “Empower Extraordinary” capital “because that’s not what the purpose of those gifts were.”

Murphy asked Engler if the university would approach donors about giving for potential settlements with the Nassar litigation.

“Look, we’re going to get the settlement first,” Engler said, “then we’ll address how we’re going to pay for it. And we’re sure ESPN will want to cover that story.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Free Press writer David Jesse contributed to this report.