The Graduate Employees Union supports MSU Trustee Brian Mosallam’s reform proposal, “A New Day for MSU” and emphatically echoes his call for “drastic voluntary remediation.
For too long MSU’s Board of Trustees has deferred to the Office of the President in university governance matters. This historical coziness between the Administration and the Board has had disastrous consequences that devastated some of the most vulnerable members of the MSU community. Mosallam’s proposals are an important first step in regaining trust by establishing a stronger, more independent board capable of truly acting on behalf of the MSU community.
We support the proposals to strengthen the institutional response to sexual harassment and assault. Increased resources for survivors and additional institutional protections will go a long way in combating the culture of impunity that has festered at MSU. We particularly applaud the proposal to give petitioners the right to appeal decisions by the Office of Institutional Equity, as well as the promise of increased resources for the MSU Sexual Assault Program, Safe Place, and the Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Prevention Program.
If we are truly interested in ensuring that predators like Larry Nassar never again find safe haven within MSU, we must commit ourselves to driving out the people and institutional structures that enabled him. We believe that Trustee’s Mosallam’s proposal is a sorely-needed first step on the path to effecting this change.
Mosallam’s proposal here: “A New Day for MSU”