Lou Anna Simon has quit her day job. It wasn’t just any job, either.
She was president of Michigan State University, the school that employed a doctor who this week was sentenced to as many as 175 years in prison for sexually abusing young female athletes.
Larry Nassar is now heading for prison for the rest of his life. He heard from scores of his victims during the sentencing phase of his trial. He said he is sorry, but the judge, Rosemarie Aquilini, didn’t believe him, declaring it was her “honor and privilege” to hand out the maximum sentence.
Then there’s the responsibility for the long-standing scandal that has rocked the sporting world far beyond the East Lansing, Mich., university.
Simon quit because this despicable conduct happened on her watch.
The question now must be asked: Did others know of this conduct but failed to act?
This hideous scandal does bring to my mind another one at another school, involving individuals charged with caring for youngsters. Do the names of Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno ring a bell?
Sandusky served as an assistant football coach at Penn State University. Then he was convicted of sexually abusing boys. Meanwhile, the legendary head coach — aka “Jo Pa” — got caught up in the scandal by allegedly looking the other way while he knew of the abuse that was occurring.
Penn State fired Paterno, who later died of cancer. Sandusky is serving a lengthy prison sentence.
We are learning from the Nassar scandal — as well as from the Sandusky scandal — that these events don’t occur in a vacuum. The men who do these things so very often do so with the implied — if not the outright — endorsement of their employers.
The implication surfaces when those in charge do nothing to stop this kind of hideous behavior as it is occurring.
Therefore, I am betting that Larry Nassar’s downfall will bring others with him.
