A resolution calling on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees to fire President Lou Anna Simon was overwhelmingly approved Wednesday afternoon in the state House of Representatives.

The resolution, approved 96-11, says a lack of leadership at MSU's highest ranks allowed former sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar, a university employee, to sexually assault numerous female athletes over the years.

"As leader of the university, President Simon is inherently responsible for perpetuating a sick culture that allowed a predator to continue molesting new young women and girls while also forcing his past victims to endure their suffering in silence," Rep. Adam Zemke, D-Ann Arbor, said in a statement. "Her blatant failure to protect students from Nassar's abuse proves that she is unfit to continue as president of the university, and must resign or be removed immediately."

Earlier Wednesday, Nassar was sentenced in Ingham County Circuit Court to 40 to 175 years in prison on seven counts of criminal sexual abuse. More than 100 women who say they were abused by him submitted statements or spoke at his sentencing hearing, which started last week and concluded today.

Leading Republicans and Democrats in the state Legislature -- including those representing East Lansing -- have already called for Simon to step down.

Several newspaper editorial boards, including MSU's student newspaper, have also called on university trustees to oust Simon. In addition, the university's student government has called on trustees to make leadership changes at the highest level, according to news reports.

Pressure to fire Simon was also building online.

Christopher Rivard, a 2012 MSU graduate from Dearborn Heights, launched a petition on Change.org urging the board to terminate Simon's contract if she doesn't resign.

He started the petition on January 19 with the goal of attracting 100 supporters. It had 300 on January 23, then within two hours of Nassar's sentencing, it had grown to more than 2,000.

"I got angry and I wanted to do something," Rivard said.

A former MSU student government representative, Rivard says he loves his alma mater. He also generally supported administration, though he considered it "never as close to the students as maybe they could be."

The Nassar case - along with news that Simon had known since 2014 that a doctor was facing an allegation - got Rivard's attention.

"This whole thing has made me angry from the very beginning," he said. "I kept thinking the Board of Trustees would do the right thing when it came down to it."

-MLive reporter Paula Gardner contributed to this report