Former Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine Dean William Strampel has retired rather than face the revocation of his tenure.
Under a new policy, Strampel had faced a Friday deadline to retire or risk losing his retirement benefits. Interim MSU President John Engler says an agreement has been reached between attorneys representing the university and the former dean.
Strampel will not have emeritus status and also will lose other honorary benefits. He will keep his health benefits and will get $170,000 in payment, which Engler described as only a portion of what Strampel would have sought in a tenure revocation proceeding.
Engler is pleased with the outcome. "While in some ways it would have been satisfying to see tenure being revoked," Engler states, "I think we owe it to the university community to bring this to an end as quickly as we can, and so we’ve done that.”
As Dean, Strampel supervised convicted former doctor Larry Nassar, now serving a lengthy prison sentence for sexual assaults. Strampel is facing his own sexual misconduct charges.