Details have been released about several donations worth tens of millions of dollars given to Michigan State University’s athletics program.
That’s after the Detroit Free Press won a lawsuit against the school to release records of donor agreements that were related to football coach Mel Tucker’s $95 million 10-year contract.
WKAR's Sophia Saliby talked with David Jesse who covers higher education for the newspaper about the MSU records.
Interview Highlights
On the donor agreements between MSU and Steve St. Andre and Mat Ishbia
The pair is two of Michigan State's largest donors, including making headlines for donating a lot of money to go towards the head football coach Mel Tucker's salary. And so, we simply wanted to know what that agreement said. Were there any conditions on the gift? Were there any give backs? What was the university saying it was going to do with the money? What did the donors want that money specifically to go to? So, we just wanted to see the terms of the of the agreement.
On what the paper learned from reading these newly-released documents
We also found out, and this was perhaps most interesting, is that the two of them combined were donating $24 million towards the $95 million total contract. We hadn't known what that number is. So, what's interesting about that is that means now that Michigan State University is on the hook for that other $70 million over the length of that 10-year contract. So, it kind of clarified what Michigan State's responsibilities towards Tucker's contract were and what was coming from the donors.
On the precedent this ruling sets
I think there was a bit of a principle here, both for us and for the university. We wanted to make sure these types of agreements, which get signed all the time between universities and donors are open to the public for inspection, so they can see how their university works. And the university wanted to have the right to not release those. And so, while these two, these three contracts were at issue, I think there were broader principles at play for both them and for the Free Press.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: We now know more details about several donations worth tens of millions of dollars given to Michigan State University’s athletics program.
That’s after the Detroit Free Press won a lawsuit against the school to release records of donor agreements that were related to football coach Mel Tucker’s $95 million 10-year contract.
David Jesse covers higher education for the newspaper. He joins me now. Thank you for being here.
David Jesse: Thanks for having me.
Saliby: The Free Press wanted to know about agreements the university made with two donors: Mat Ishbia and Steve St. Andre. Who are they, and why was the paper interested in them specifically?
Jesse: The pair is two of Michigan State's largest donors, including making headlines for donating a lot of money to go towards the head football coach Mel Tucker's salary. And so, we simply wanted to know what that agreement said.
Those agreements are legally binding contracts, and we wanted to see what the public university was signing up for.
Were there any conditions on the gift? Were there any give backs? What was the university saying it was going to do with the money? What did the donors want that money specifically to go to? So, we just wanted to see the terms of the of the agreement.
Those agreements are legally binding contracts, and we wanted to see what the public university was signing up for.
Jesse: So, MSU did release these donor agreements at the end of last month after a judge ordered them to. What did you learn when you read through these documents?
Jesse: Well, first of all, I don't think we found anything really shocking. There were no weird conditions placed on Michigan State in exchange for the money.
We found that they wanted the money to go towards the football coach, which we expected, although they kind of couched it in a little bit of legalese. That's where the money is going to.
What's interesting about that is that means now that Michigan State University is on the hook for that other $70 million over the length of that 10-year contract.
We also found out, and this was perhaps most interesting, is that the two of them combined were donating $24 million towards the $95 million total contract. We hadn't known what that number is. So, what's interesting about that is that means now that Michigan State University is on the hook for that other $70 million over the length of that 10-year contract. So, it kind of clarified what Michigan State's responsibilities towards Tucker's contract were and what was coming from the donors.
Saliby: So, you mentioned there was nothing maybe too specific about stipulations on how the money could be used, but do we know some details that were, that you maybe didn't know before?
Jesse: We know now that, you know, another gift Ishbia made, a $31 million gift was going to go towards a new football building. It's gonna be named for Tom Izzo, the head basketball coach, that an entrance into the Breslin Center is going to be named for Ishbia's parents.
And that the money was going to be going towards, both Ishbia and St. Andre, that money was at the discretion of the athletic director to spend, but their strong wishes or their strong preference was that it would go towards the recruitment and retention of football coaches, which is where it goes towards Mel Tucker.
Saliby: It seems like some of this information in the agreements were already known publicly. Isbhia, himself, shared that he donated about $14 million towards Tucker's salary at some point. Why do you think the university didn't want to share these documents?
Jesse: That's the $95 million question, right? We don't know. There was not anything that seems to be hidden. We know that, at some point, probably Ishbia and St. Andre or one of the two asked the university not to share them.
The judge agreed with us that if you wanted it to be completely cloaked in privacy, you could donate it anonymously, right, and not have your name attached to it.
I mean, to us, and the reason the Free Press sued to get these is the broader principle. You know, we want to be able, we think the public deserves the ability to see how public universities work. And the judge agreed with us that if you wanted it to be completely cloaked in privacy, you could donate it anonymously, right, and not have your name attached to it. You could not give interviews about it, that both men have done.
And so, I think there was a bit of a principle here, both for us and for the university. We wanted to make sure these types of agreements, which get signed all the time between universities and donors are open to the public for inspection, so they can see how their university works. And the university wanted to have the right to not release those.
And so, while these two, these three contracts were at issue, I think there were broader principles at play for both them and for the Free Press.
Saliby: To end this conversation, how does this judge's ruling allowing the Free Press access to these donor agreements, how does that impact papers like the Free Press, other media outlets from getting this type of information from universities?
We expect that all gift agreements between all public universities and all donors are now open records.
Jesse: Well, we think this sends a strong signal established by a judge, a ruling that says these documents are public record. And so, we expect that all gift agreements between all public universities and all donors are now open records.
It's worth noting that Michigan State University is the only Michigan university that has ever denied us access to these records before. We've gotten them from the University of Michigan, from Wayne State, from Eastern Michigan, from a number of other public universities.
So, we think this really drives home the point that the public deserves the opportunity to see all records of all business of public universities.
Saliby: David Jesse covers higher education for the Detroit Free Press. Thank you for joining me.
Jesse: No problem.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
