MSU Trustees chair gives update on presidential search, release of Nassar docs

Rema Vassar is the newest chair of Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees.

She stepped into the role earlier this year. Since then, the university has begun a searchfor its next president and faced tragedy when a gunman entered campus last month, shooting and killing three students and injuring five others.

WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with Vassar about the recovery since that shooting, the presidential search and an investigation into the dismissal of the former business school dean.

Interview Highlights

On how the university has come together since the February 13th mass shooting on campus

On the potential release of thousands of documents related to the Nassar scandal

On what she's looking for in the university's next president

Interview Transcript

Sophia Saliby: Rema Vassar is the newest chair of Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees.

She stepped into the role earlier this year. Since then, the university has begun a search for its next president and faced tragedy when a gunman entered campus last month, shooting and killing three students and injuring five others.

Vassar joins me now. Thank you for being here.

Rema Vassar: Well, thank you for having me.

Saliby: What has the past month been like for you dealing with the university's recovery since the shooting both as board chair and an MSU parent?

Vassar: So, it's been a series of ups and downs, right? The tragedy on February 13, really, was a dual shocker for me. The trauma was, you know, twofold.

One, you know, the beloved MSU community, global community, really, had a response and reaction and a collective grief around that, around the shooting. And as a mother, I was really concerned about my daughter who was sheltered in place for four hours locked in her bathroom. So, the whole evening, into the morning, I was fielding calls from MSU officials, from her and from our family and friends who were concerned about her and making sure that she was okay, making sure that I was okay, but then also making sure MSU was okay, right?

So, it was a pretty harrowing experience, just that evening. But then afterwards, having a daughter at MSU and sending your child to college and expecting them fully to come back home with a degree, right, having to grapple with the idea that parents lost their children was heartbreaking.

Calling those parents and talking with them was gut wrenching. I've never, that was the hardest day of my whole entire life was February 14, just talking to those parents who lost their children and then going to visit the families who were hoping for the recovery of their children in the hospital.

That day was tough. You just don't expect that a place like MSU that's safe and welcoming and inviting, where you know, Spartans generally are happy and joyful and good natured would have these kinds of effects for your own personal children, right? Like, it's hard enough to think about this for other families someplace else. But really, when it's right in your own backyard with your own children, it's really hard to grapple with.

So, that was tough. And then after that, it was a lot of business, right? What are the safety precautions we're taking? What happened in that moment? But also having to negotiate the grieving processes of all these different people.

Grief takes on, you know, all kinds of forms, and people have different ways of getting through grief and really coping with trauma. And so, you know, is levity appropriate? Is, you know, serenity appropriate? Does someone need to be left alone, right? What does the community need, as a whole?

And seeing Spartans show up in myriad ways with their eclectic talents and diverse interests and various spheres of influence and means and contributions was amazing. I mean, I just have never seen anything like that. And I wouldn't have been able to fathom that people would come and support one another in that way with empathy, with love, with laughs.

You covered the Sunday event, and that was just a minor miracle, in my opinion. Just you know, that people could come together through social media and organize that kind of event with the magnitude of impact was just awe inspiring.

So again, it's ups and downs, tremendous grief, sorrow and pain, you know, then also action, right? What do we need to do? And then also just wonderment at the resilience of Spartans.

Saliby: Looking ahead, you're now entering your third month as chair of the board. What are your priorities or maybe top three priorities in this leadership position?

Vassar: So, the board has gone through a lot, and MSU actually has protracted crises, I think, since before my time, right, that predates me. And so, part of what I am good at is conflict management and healing.

As a counselor, a licensed counselor, I'm good at those things. So, that's, I think, item number one for us as a community. I think I was the right leader at the right time for this moment, right? That's one of my gifts, and something I'm trained in. But then, as the board chair that was just coming into the role, I thought about transparency, trust and transformative leadership.

There's a lot of work to be done in building trust and moving with transparency with the community, but then with ourselves as well. Thinking about transformative leadership is one that's focused on changing systems to be more equitable, to be more accessible for those who are marginalized. So, I have an eye toward transformative leadership as well.

So, those three "T's" are my main objectives after thinking about trauma and healing.

Saliby: Speaking of transparency, two years ago, the Board of Trustees made the decision to keep thousands of university documents related to former sports doctor Larry Nassar private.

You've said you wanted those files released both during your campaign and after that decision was made. Will this be an issue you revive as board chair?

Vassar: Yes. I don't remember saying that, but that's actually what I want to do. So, if I did say that, I'm still aligned with what I said.

I think that transparency is important for healing and for trust. And so, yes, that's still an item for me, an immediate item for me as we go into the rest of this year.

Saliby: So, you would say that will be an issue that will be talked about among the board this year?

Vassar: Oh, absolutely. It's already been talked about.

Saliby: The Board of Trustees also approved the release of an independent report last month it commissioned on the dismissal of former business college dean Sanjay Gupta, can you share when that will be made public?

Vassar: So, by the end of this month, we are anticipating a release of that report.

Saliby: Gupta has also sued Interim President Teresa Woodruff and other university officialsalleging his removal was part of a scheme to defame his character. He also claimed in the suit that there was not clarity in university policy related to Title IX reporting.

You know, I'm sure you can't comment on the lawsuit, but do you think the university still has work to do to improve its Title IX compliance policies to prevent confusion like that from happening?

Vassar: Yeah. So, I do want to make sure that there's a delineation between the Gupta case and this Quinn Emanuel investigation. The Quinn Emanuel investigation was to actually do the audit necessary of the Title IX office.

I'm not sure if you followed the certification process last yearthat we had a problem with, with former President Sam Stanley. There was a certification issue around OIE (Office of Institutional Equity) reporting and our review by the board of those reports. But these are all symptomatic of a larger problem, so we hired Quinn Emanuel to do an audit of that Title IX office to figure out what the primary problems are with that office.

So, the Quinn Emanuel report does offer, eventually, recommendations for improvement, and that's with policy and practice.

Saliby: How would you characterize your working relationship now with Interim President Teresa Woodruff compared to former President Samuel Stanley Jr. who had cited problems working with the boardwhen he when he resigned from the position last year?

Vassar: I would say that already there's a difference. I think there's a marked difference between the ways that Sam Stanley and Teresa Woodruff interface with people, right? I think that's evident to everyone.

In terms of relationship with the board, what I have stressed with this newly constituted board, there's, you know, three new members, well, two new members to our board and one who was reelected to our board. And so, there's an opportunity to co-construct what we want the relationship between the board and the president to be.

It doesn't have to take on a life that was previously, you know, the practice and the norm for MSU presidents and boards. This board with this president in this moment are co-constructing what it will be in terms of our relationship. So, I'm optimistic about the possibilities.

I don't foresee problems with co-constructing a new way of being other than the limits of our imagination, right? If we are committed, and I know that we all are to a healthy relationship, a working relationship, one that is grounded in trust and transparency, I have no doubt that our relationship is going to be not only productive, but also actually fun. That would be nice for change.

Saliby: Going beyond your relationship with Interim President Woodruff, what are you looking for in the next permanent president of the university?

Vassar: Those three "T's" right, someone who is committed to trust and transparency and transformative leadership. But also again, going back to this idea that we have been in crisis over and over and over at MSU, someone who is compassionate, has empathy and leads with heart, right?

Someone who understands that crisis demands a different kind of leadership, one that is creative, one that is innovative and one that is attentive to the needs of the community and responsive in those ways.

So, I think that protracted trauma that MSU has experienced will be really important in thinking about who the next candidate is. Primarily, a president must be committed to the land-grant mission of this institution of thinking of ways of engaging community stakeholders, of making sure that all Michiganders have access to this university, committed to outreach, and also committed to working with the board.

I think the board is, I'm excited about these colleagues, I think they're awesome. And I do think that we have eclectic talents, diverse interests, so many different ways of influencing legislature, community constituencies. The board can be leveraged for the good of the university and a great leader will know how to leverage us.

Saliby: I know it's probably relatively early, but where is the board in the process of finding that next president for MSU?

Vassar: It is relatively early. I can tell you that we have secured a search firm, and that contract is signed. We have a committee, which is Trustee Dennis Dennoand vice chair of that committee is Trustee Brianna Scott. So, the chair is Dennis Denno, and the vice chair is Trustee Scott.

And I want to tell you too, I chose Dennis Denno because he's, one, an expert administrator, very organized, an inclusive thinker, right? He thinks about engaging different constituencies and making sure people who sometimes are not given a space to raise their voice that he makes sure that they have that that platform. But also, he's one of the people who, Sandy Pierce and him are the two new people, so he's one of the people who is untainted, right?

If we're thinking about trust and we're thinking about transparency, there is no vote of no confidence that he's battling. There is no, 'okay, well, is he going to be pulling for this person or that person?' There's no history that can sometimes, you know, cause consternation and distrust among stakeholders.

And so, he was chosen for that, but he's also a very thoughtful and intentional leader, and so I'm really excited about this search process under his leadership.

Saliby: Rema Vassar is the chair of the MSU Board of Trustees. Thank you for joining me.

Vassar: Thank you for having me.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.