MSU alumni director resigns amid investigation by Title IX office

Michigan State University's alumni executive director is under investigation by the school's Title IX office and has resigned, the school confirmed to the Free Press on Tuesday.

Scott Westerman, associate vice president for alumni relations and executive director of the MSU Alumni Association, told the school his resignation will take effect July 31. His resignation letter said he will be moving to Florida to be closer to family and return to the private sector.

Westerman is the latest high-ranking administrator to leave the university. That list includes the president, the athletic director, the chief lawyer and the dean of one of the colleges. As head of the alumni association, Westerman is a highly visible public face of the university. The association has 140 alumni clubs worldwide and regularly hosts gatherings at sporting events.

The majority of the high-ranking administrators who have left have done so under intense public pressure for their handling of the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal. There is no indication Westerman is tied at all to that.

Bob Thomas will serve as interim director of the MSU Alumni Association while a search for a new executive director is conducted, MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant told the Free Press after the newspaper asked about Westerman's status.

A complaint was filed against Westerman with the school's Office for Institutional Equity on Feb. 9, Guerrant confirmed. The investigation is ongoing. Further details weren't available. The office investigates complaints about discrimination, harassment, and violations of the school's Anti-Discrimination Policy and Policy on Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct.

"I was recently surprised to learn that I am the subject of an OIE inquiry," Westerman said in a statement. "It covers a brief period near the start of my tenure, is not a police matter, and, naturally, I am fully cooperating with with investigators. I won’t have further comment until their work is complete.

"With regard to our departure, we have been planning to return to Florida for some time. The inquiry was not a factor in that decision."

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Westerman has been at MSU since 2010, when he took over as leader of the university's alumni association.

He came to MSU from Albuquerque, N.M., where he was an area vice president for Comcast Corp.’s West Division. Westerman obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in telecommunication from MSU in 1978. In 2001, he was awarded the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumnus award. Before coming to MSU as an employee, he was active in the school's alumni association, including chairing its national alumni board.

A number of MSU officials have left the university in recent months, starting with President Lou Anna Simon, who resigned under heavy pressure for her handling of the Nassar case.

Athletic Director Mark Hollis stepped down as well in January, a couple of days after the NCAA announced an investigation into the school's handling of Nassar and hours before ESPN released a report critical of the athletic department's handling of sexual assault accusations.

Robert Noto, the university's top lawyer, left in February. Before he left, MSU Trustee Brian Mossallam had called for Noto to step down over his work during the Nassar case.

Nassar's boss, William Strampel, dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine until he stepped down in December, is now facing four charges of his own, including a felony charge of criminal sexual conduct and two misdemeanor charges of willful neglect of duty by a public official.

Nassar, 54, the MSU doctor accused of molesting dozens of female students and athletes, has been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography charges and is incarcerated at a high-security federal prison in Arizona. He also faces a 40- to 175-year sentence issued in Ingham County and a 40- to 125-year sentence in Eaton County, where he was charged with 10 sexual assaults. Those sentences will not begin until he finishes the federal sentence.

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj