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Most legal costs settled a year after ethics allegations against MSU Trustees, some remain unpaid

Michigan State University's Board of Trustees met in Flint on Friday.
Wali Khan
/
WKAR-MSU
Two members of Michigan State University's Board of Trustees have faced calls to resign in the past year.

A months-long investigation into alleged misconduct within the Michigan State University Board of Trustees is end up costing the school more than $2 million in legal costs.

It started a year ago when Trustee Brianna Scott accused former Board Chair Rema Vassar and Trustee Dennis Denno of ethics violations and bullying.

The university hired Washington, D.C.-based law firm Miller & Chevalier to conduct an investigation. The firm released its report in February of 2023 finding that Vassar and Denno did overstep their authority several times.

According to the Lansing State Journal, the final legal costs for that investigation ended up being nearly $2.4 million. Though there remains several hundred thousands dollars of unpaid legal fees for lawyers the school hired for Vassar during the investigation.

WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with Sarah Atwood, an education reporter for the Lansing State Journal who has been following this story.

Interview Highlights

On the findings of the investigation following Trustee Scott's allegations

Some of the big ones that were the most concerning, according to the report, were that Vassar and fellow Trustee Dennis Denno had used their power, positions of authority, to bully and harass Teresa Woodruff and then also then Faculty Senate Chair Jack Lipton. Some of the ways that they did this was targeted campaigns using the press and students against them. The report also found instances where Vassar had accepted gifts from donors that had the appearance of being unprofessional.

On what happened following the release of the investigation's findings

In a March 3rd meeting, late night special meeting, the Trustees decided to censure Vassar, Denno and Scott, because Scott released information that was protected under attorney-client privilege. And then Vassar and Denno have also been stripped from all trustee roles until December 31, 2024. They also did vote to send, as you said, the report to the governor for her consideration to potentially remove the trustees. Although she's been pretty quiet on what her decision is.

On unpaid legal fees to lawyers the university hired for Vassar

Vassar has the right to indemnification as her role as trustee. The other trustees agreed to indemnify her until the investigation, the Miller and Chevalier investigation into allegations of bullying concluded. That investigation concluded in late February, I think it was February 29 where the report of their findings was released. And on that day, MSU General Counsel Brian Quinn sent an email to her attorneys that said, we don't need you anymore, and basically saying, if you want to continue to represent her, she will be paying for you. Now, the problem is that her attorneys don't feel that the investigation is over. They feel that she hasn't really seen due process. They've said that they feel like a lot of the investigation in the report wasn't complete, it was one-sided, and they don't feel the investigation is done, especially because her potential removal has been referred to the governor.

Interview Transcript

Sophia Saliby: A months-long investigation into alleged misconduct within the Michigan State University Board of Trustees is ending up costing the school more than $2 million in legal costs.

It started a year ago when Trustee Brianna Scott accused former Board Chair Rema Vassar as well as Trustee Dennis Denno of ethics violations and some bullying.

Sarah Atwood is an education reporter for the Lansing State Journal who has been following this story, and she joins us now. Thank you for being here.

Sarah Atwood: Thank you for having me.

Saliby: To refresh our audience on all that's happened, can you go a little more in depth about the allegations from Trustee Scott, and then what this investigation ended up finding?

Atwood: So, the original allegations by Trustee Scott were mainly focused on Rema Vassar taking flights from donors to MSU sporting events, and then also just general unprofessional behavior, for example, bullying former Interim President Teresa Woodruff was one of her accusations [Scott] made, and also alleging that if they didn't vote for [Vassar] as board chair, there was racism involved in their decision to make that vote.

So, the investigation found evidence to corroborate some of those accusations. Others of them were not found to have any merit. Some of the big ones that were the most concerning, according to the report, were that Vassar and fellow Trustee Dennis Denno had used their power and positions of authority, to bully and harass Teresa Woodruff and then also then Faculty Senate Chair Jack Lipton. Some of the ways that they did this was targeted campaigns using the press and students against them. The report also found instances where Vassar had accepted gifts from donors that had the appearance of being unprofessional.

Saliby: What were ultimately the consequences of all of that? You know, I know the report was sent to Governor Gretchen Whitmer for review, but I don't think anything has really happened with that.

Atwood: In a March 3rd meeting, late night special meeting, the Trustees decided to censure Vassar, Denno and Scott, because Scott released information that was protected under attorney-client privilege. And then Vassar and Denno have also been stripped from all trustee roles until December 31, 2024.

They also did vote to send, as you said, the report to the governor for her consideration to potentially remove the trustees. Although she's been pretty quiet on what her decision is. She wants to take her time. This is not something that has ever happened before, at least, from recent memory, so, if she decided to remove the trustees, it would be a brand new process.

Saliby: Has there been any impact in the way these trustees work together since all of this happened?

Atwood: I don't know if I can speculate, personally, on their interpersonal dynamic since this has happened. They have, with the new president, Kevin Guskiewicz, they have implemented some new policies around shared governance, and so far, it seems that they have been pretty much sticking to those. He's lauded them a couple times, saying that, you know, things are a lot better, but really, I think it's something that time will tell.

Saliby: The other issue here is there is about $300,000 in outstanding legal fees for attorneys Trustee Vassar retained as a university official during this whole investigation. Who is responsible for paying for that money?

Atwood: So a little bit of background, Vassar has the right to indemnification in her role as trustee. The other trustees agreed to indemnify her until the investigation, the Miller and Chevalier investigation into allegations of bullying concluded. That investigation concluded in late February, I think it was February 29 where the report of their findings was released. And on that day, MSU General Counsel Brian Quinn sent an email to her attorneys that said, we don't need you anymore, and basically saying, if you want to continue to represent her, she will be paying for you.

Now, the problem is that her attorneys don't feel that the investigation is over. They feel that she hasn't really seen due process. They've said that they feel like a lot of the investigation in the report wasn't complete, it was one-sided, and they don't feel the investigation is done, especially because her potential removal has been referred to the governor. So, they say they want to stick by her until the governor makes her final decision.

So, they're saying that the university still owes them money because the investigation isn't done. The university is saying, well, we let you know that we wouldn't be covering her legal costs anymore. So, I think it really comes down to who ends up being right in this situation.

Saliby: Sarah Atwood covers education for the Lansing State Journal. Thank you for joining us.

Atwood: Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Sophia Saliby is the local producer and host of All Things Considered, airing 4pm-7pm weekdays on 90.5 FM WKAR.
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