John Engler picked as MSU's interim president, but faces opposition from the start

EAST LANSING - Less than an hour after being named interim president of Michigan State University, former Michigan Gov. John Engler found himself repeatedly interrupted and shouted down Wednesday as he tried to assure the media he would work to repair the university's culture.

Engler wasn't there when the MSU Board of Trustees unanimously approved the appointment, but joined trustees for a news conference after the meeting.

He promised that "change is coming" and that he would "move forward as if my own daughter were on this campus."

Then the shouting began.

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Dan Martel, president of the MSU College Democrats, interrupted a reporter's question, shouting that he was tired of being ignored by the university. He asked Engler if he would heed a list of student demands, beginning with hosting a public town hall within a week.

"No to the first," Engler said, drawing shouts from students in the crowd.

"Shame!" shouted out Can Gokcek, a 23-year-old who graduated from MSU in 2016.

Engler started ignoring the shouted questions. He turned back to reporters and was asked how he could lead in the face of so much opposition.

"I think what brings people together are solutions," Engler said. "You've got people who are survivors who have been lied to for 20 years. Do you think they trust anybody?"

Engler, a Republican, will take the helm Monday as trustees conduct a nationwide search for someone to permanently replace Lou Anna Simon, who resigned last week amid widespread criticism of how the university handled reports of abuse by MSU and USA Gymanstics doctor Larry Nassar, who pleaded guilty to 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct, though more than 250 women and girls have said he assaulted them.

Engler's predecessor in the governor's office, Democrat James Blanchard, will serve as a senior adviser in the new MSU administration. MSU spokesman Jason Cody said he could not immediately provide information on either man's salary.

Engler offered few specifics on his plans for the university, but said he would "immediately" meet with attorneys defending the university against federal lawsuits filed by Nassar's victims and would cooperate fully with all of the pending state and federal investigations into MSU's handling of sex assault cases.

"The changes that need to be made are the changes we're going to be making," he said.

The tense news conference followed a tense board meeting that was repeatedly interrupted by student protesters.

Immediately after the vote, 22-year-old MSU senior Connor Berdy climbed atop the board's table to speak out.

"This was not a democratic process," Berdy said, adding that he hoped "that you, as the Board of Trustees, make better decisions going forward and allow us in on the process."

Several faculty members and students said they had been given the impression that board members wanted their input and said they were essentially blindsided by Engler's selection.

In an open letter to the community on Tuesday, several faculty leaders said that, after conversations with board members, they had "learned of their apparent decision to select Gov. Engler through public media.

"They seem to have selected, without appropriate consultation from the MSU community, an individual with no academic leadership experience as an interim president," said the letter signed by the five at-large faculty members of the MSU Steering Committee.

The group, who are members of the small leadership body within MSU's academic governance system, had asked for an interim president with "experience devising and implementing programs to mitigate sexual harassment and sexual abuse."

They had suggested a woman with academic leadership experience "because her lived experience would provide needed wisdom at this juncture."

They suggested a longer hiring process that would give the board time to take input from the university community.

On Wednesday, following the vote, Laura McCabe, president of the Steering Committee and a professor in the Department of Physiology, said the group would be "sadly forced to bring a vote of no confidence," essentially asking faculty members to call for the resignations of the entire Board of Trustees.

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Trustees said the bipartisan Engler-Blanchard leadership was proof politics was not part of their process. And board Vice President Joel Ferguson defended the quick hires by saying, "When something’s on fire, you don’t call the fire department three days later."

"You guys did not call the fire department for 20 years when it came to sexual assault,” Martel, of the student Democrats, said when he interrupted the meeting. "For the rest of my life, I will carry a diploma from Larry Nassar University.”

Martel noted that hundreds of students marched on campus seeking transparency and asking board members to help restore trust in the university's leadership.

"What we got were shady backroom dealings, which resulted in the political appointment of a straight, white, wealthy male who is just conservative enough to keep our elected officials down Michigan Avenue pacified for a little while longer," he said.

Engler's appointment caps two weeks of turmoil on campus that began in earnest with the start of Nassar's sentencing hearing on Jan. 16 in Ingham County Circuit Court.

More than 150 women and girls and their parents and coaches gave statements about abuse at Nassar's hands, among them Olympic medalists Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber and Jamie Dantzscher.

Their stories drew national and international attention. And, as MSU was thrust into the spotlight, calls for Simon to resign intensified, from students and some faculty and also from state legislators.

She stepped down on Jan. 24, hours after Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison. She had led the university for 13 years.

Watch this video of students protesting at the MSU Board of Trustees meeting. Story continues below video.

"The gravity of the situation is so serious, with so many lives affected, that I and Spartans across the nation are in disbelief that this has occurred at our university. But it has, and I stand here with the level of resolve to commit all of my energy to finding solutions,” Engler said Wednesday.

He also repeated something one of his daughters had said to him: “The only innocents in all of this are those who have been victimized.”

The MSU board is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Prior to the vote, all eight of the trustees expressed their support for Engler, even those who have tangled with him politically in the past.

“Everybody recognizes it’s time for major change at Michigan State University," said Trustee Dianne Byrum, a Democrat who served in the state Legislature throughout Engler's tenure as governor.

Despite past disagreements, she said she believes Engler will do right by students, staff and the broader community.

Ferguson said the university was "blessed" that Engler and Blanchard were willing to step forward. Both men are graduates of MSU.

Engler said he will meet with Gov. Rick Snyder soon to promise his support for and cooperation with ongoing investigations.

In the midst of Nassar's sentencing hearing in Ingham County, board members asked Attorney General Bill Schuette's office to investigate the university's handling of the case. Schuette would later say he'd started his investigation in 2017, though he didn't provide specifics.

On Jan. 23, the NCAA announced that it was investigating "potential NCAA rules violations related to the assaults Larry Nassar perpetrated against girls and young women, including some student-athletes at Michigan State."

The U.S. Department of Education also is looking into Nassar's abuses, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said the department will "hold MSU accountable for any violations of federal law."

As Engler and board members departed Wednesday morning, several student activists began a sit-in inside the board's meeting room on the fourth floor of the Hannah Administration Building.

Martel was seated at the president’s position at the table, fielding interview requests from ESPN. Another student brought bottled water. Others discussed the logistics of ordering pizza and letting their professors know why they wouldn’t be attending afternoon class.

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