The board of trustees of Michigan State University on Friday requested an official state investigation into whether school officials had ignored or covered up complaints about Dr. Lawrence G. Nassar, the university sports doctor who faces decades in prison. The request came amid growing calls for the resignation of the university president, Lou Anna K. Simon, over how much she knew about the abuses by Dr. Nassar, who is accused of molesting scores of female athletes.

Noting what the trustees called a “general sentiment that M.S.U. has avoided being transparent or, worse, that it might be involved in a cover-up,” the board asked Attorney General Bill Schuette to conduct the official inquiry.

The board, which announced the request after a closed-door meeting Friday morning, also announced its continuing support for Dr. Simon, despite demands for her replacement from prominent members of the State Legislature as well as from the campus newspaper, The State News.

Those demands came after The Detroit News reported on Thursday that multiple M.S.U. officials, including trainers and assistant coaches, had been told of inappropriate behavior by Dr. Nassar over two decades, and that Dr. Simon was informed in 2014 that an unnamed sports doctor was under a Title IX investigation. Dr. Nassar was cleared after the inquiry.