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MSU Will Absorb College Of Law

Restart the fund banner photo
Scott Pohl
/
WKAR-MSU
Despite a ban on signs, protesters unfurled banners at Friday's MSU Board of Trustees meeting. This one calls for the resumption of services from the Healing Assistance Fund set up for sexual assault survivors not included in a settlement with MSU.

The Michigan State University College of Law will be fully integrated into MSU over the next year and a half.

MSU affiliated with the law school 23 years ago, and Dean Lawrence Ponoroff says in a statement that full integration is “the next logical step.”

Trustee Dianne Byrum says “the law school’s board is aware of this, and I have heard no pushback whatsoever from them.”

Interim MSU President John Engler says that while the current law school board will be dissolved, he hopes there will be an advisory committee working with the university.

Trustees approved a state appropriation request for 2019-20 that calls on Lansing to reward schools that have frozen tuition rates at Friday's meeting.

The state penalizes universities that raise tuition by more than three percent.

Interim MSU President John Engler says it’s a matter of consistency. “You can’t on one hand say ‘just limit your tuition and everything’s the same,’ explains Engler. "If we look back over the last several years, Michigan State’s consistently been towards the bottom in terms of the investment that I think is merited, so we hope to see that better in the future.”

Engler also spoke about the Healing Assistance Fund set up for Larry Nassar sexual abuse survivors who were not included in MSU’s settlement. The fund has been frozen amidst fraud allegations. MSU has terminated its contract with the vendor. Engler expects it will be three or four months before the fund is running again.

The fervor of anti-Engler and anti-Trustees protesters took a new approach at the Trustees meeting. To get around a ban on protest signs, several bedsheet banners were snuck into the meeting and unfurled while Engler spoke.

Scott Pohl is a general assignment news reporter and produces news features and interviews. He is also an alternate local host on NPR's "Morning Edition."
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