Nassar victims deserve answers, not posturing

As Dr. Larry Nassar now sits behind bars convicted of unspeakable crimes against young women, the attention has rightly turned to asking how his actions were allowed to take place for so long. Outrageously, the Lansing State Journal uncovered in a report filed yesterday that Michigan State University (MSU) officials allowed Dr. Nassar to continue treating young women for 16 months after criminal investigations against him first began.

While I was hoping that MSU would give Dr. Nassar’s victims the transparency they deserve by allowing an open and honest investigation into their handling of the case, this new report makes it clear that their intentions all along have been to hide the truth without any accountability for those who should have taken action far sooner.

While I was proud to have been the Prosecutor who executed the first steps toward putting Dr. Nassar behind bars, real justice for the victims in this case means that those who ignored their responsibility to protect these young women are also held accountable. It’s clear that anyone who knew about Dr. Nassar’s crimes — or who should have known — should resign or be terminated.

A thorough and impartial investigation into who at MSU knew or should’ve known of Dr. Nassar’s conduct must include individuals throughout the athletics department all the way up to the President herself. And given the LSJ’s reporting, it must also include all of MSU who investigated Dr. Nassar for at least 16 months and allowed him to continue seeing young women patients.

I served as Ingham County Prosecutor as this case unfolded in 2016. During that time, I created a new Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit to better serve and assist victims in Ingham County, including on the campus of MSU. And as information about Dr. Nassar’s actions was finally brought to my office, I directed my team to do everything in their power to assist the investigation and made it clear that it was our job to listen to each and every victim who reached out.

My office swiftly executed search warrants at Dr. Nassar’s home that recovered hard drives containing the evidence that led to the first wave of convictions against Dr. Nassar on federal child pornography charges. But it quickly became clear that Dr. Nassar committed crimes in multiple jurisdictions, including communities outside of Ingham County, and therefore engaging state and federal prosecutors was in the best interest of the victims.

I’m certainly no fan of our politically-driven Attorney General, but when a case grows beyond the jurisdiction of a county prosecutor, justice is best served by handing the case over to the state-wide Attorney General’s office to prosecute it to the fullest extent of the law. It was without question the right thing to do in the best interest of victims seeking justice, first and foremost. Further, consolidation of these cases into the Attorney General’s office was the right move for the victims of Dr. Nassar because it only required these courageous young women to relive and retell their horrifying experiences once, rather than in multiple courtrooms across multiple counties.

Since then, there have been those who have suggested I should have filed charges anyway because, while it may not have been the right move procedurally, it would have been the right move for me politically. To those, I would ask that you stand in front of Dr. Nassar’s victims and tell them that. Tell those young women with whom I sat and cried that I should have played politics with their suffering and sought personal credit instead of seeking justice for them. I will not tell them that. I will not tell them now that their healing process is secondary to someone else’s ability to politicize what happened to them. Instead, I will proudly tell these amazing young women that it is thanks to their strength that Dr. Nassar is now behind bars where he will not be allowed to prey upon young women like them any longer. These women who refused to be silenced are the heroes.

I’ve shared my own story of being raped as a Freshman at MSU, and unfortunately, that means I know how it feels not to know where to go, who to talk to, or if I’d even be believed. I recovered in silence, alone.

There has been a pattern of non-action at MSU for women who have suffered sexual violence, and there has been an inexcusable dismissal by those throughout the administration of the claims against Dr. Nassar, that cannot be ignored.

I worked for the people, and I think people should always ask if their government is doing the right thing. But I’m angry some people are playing politics with the case and prolonging the suffering of these women. The only way to bring justice to the victims of Larry Nassar’s crimes, and those responsible for the inaction that allowed him to prey on these young women for so long, is for the Michigan State Police to conduct a truly independent investigation into MSU’s handling of the Nassar matter.