September 2021 - Spotlight Michigan

Assault victims protest outside U-Michigan board meeting

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Protesters, including some of the hundreds of people who survived sexual abuse by a University of Michigan sports doctor, gathered outside a meeting of the school’s governing board Thursday and called for more accountability by campus leaders.

Former football player Chuck Christian handed out T-shirts that read, “Hail to the Victims,” a reference to “Hail to the victors,” a famous lyric in the Michigan fight song.

Survivors of late UMich athletic doctor Robert Anderson protest outside of regents meeting, saying ‘no one on campus should have to fear’

More than one hundred protesters gathered outside the Postma Family Clubhouse at the University of Michigan Golf Course Thursday, where the Board of Regents were meeting in person for the first time since March 2020. The crowd protested the University’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse against late University athletic doctor Robert Anderson and demanded stronger accountability from the administration on behalf of survivors.

University of Michigan board delays president’s review, gives 3% raise anyway

The University of Michigan Board of Regents, currently split over the performance of university President Mark Schlissel, delayed a routine public review of his past year for one month. However,  the board, without comment, gave him a 3% raise.

They also were met with an emotional protest by sexual abuse survivors of the late U-M sports doctor Robert Anderson and their supporters.

‘We’re no longer going to be silent’: Survivors of late U-M doctor’s abuse to attend regents meeting to demand answers

CLICKONDETROIT.COMANN ARBOR, Mich. – More than 800 former University of Michigan athletes have come forward accusing Dr. Robert Anderson of sexually abusing them during exams.

Jon Vaughn is a former star running back for Michigan football and last played in 1990. He is one of the athletes who said Anderson sexually abused them.

A University of Michigan Board of Regents meeting will be held in person on Thursday (Sept. 23). It’s an opportunity for survivors of Anderson’s abuse to speak out.

Vaughn traveled to Michigan from Texas to attend the meeting.

“We feel dehumanized, we feel disrespected,” Vaughn said. “One of our goals tomorrow is sit down across from the Acker and other regents and I’m going to introduce them to Jon Vaughn, not John Doe.”

Since coming to terms with the abuse, Vaughn has been speaking with other former athletes. He said the longer the process goes on, the more painful it is for the survivors.

“There are a thousand plus victims that need closure. Guys are dying. Guys are falling back into alcoholism. I’ve heard from so many guys facing so many ills because of this,” Vaughn said. “From 88 through 1990 you could call my name on the field, but you won’t say my name in this case. And I think that’s where we stand. United in solidarity in this case as victims and survivors — that we’re no longer going to be silent.”

Vaughn also thinks some of the unexpected people will show up on Thursday to give their gathering ahead of the regents’ meeting a lot of energy.

Bills would strip medical providers of license if found guilty of sexual misconduct

Michigan Radio — A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working to strip medical care providers of their license to practice if they’re found guilty of sexual misconduct under the pretext of treatment.

The pair of bills are part of a response to allegations of sexual abuse against the late former University of Michigan doctor Robert Anderson.

State Representative Julie Brixie (D-Okemos) said although these bills would cause a convicted doctor to lose their medical license, there’s more work to be done.

“They would have to be convicted of that in order for that to happen and the problem is you can’t get a conviction if you’ve gone beyond the statute of limitations,” Brixie said.

Brixie said the average age of disclosure for survivors of child crimes is 52.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers previously expanded the statute of limitations for second- and third-degree child sex crimes in 2018 to only 15 years after the incident or until the survivor’s 28th birthday.

“Eighty-six percent of child sex abuse goes unreported because Michigan’s statute of limitations is among the narrowest in the entire country,” Brixie said.

She said lawmakers are also looking at opening a so-called “revival window” so more accusers of Dr. Anderson can come forward.

Editor’s note: U of M holds Michigan Radio’s license.

Spotlight Michigan Report

Detroit, MI
breaks says lawmakers are also looking at opening 8 revival windows so more accusers of the late former University of michigan. Dr. Robert Anderson can come forward. Taking a look at traffic 9 94 westbound Haggerty rode crashes cleared us 23 remains closed between am 50 and plank road for train bridge repairs mostly cloudy today with the chance of showers behind 82 chance of rain tonight with overnight temperatures in the mid 60s. Showers in the afternoon tomorrow with a high of 77 some thunderstorms tomorrow night with potentially heavy

 

Detroit, MI
Station Reach: 80,700
representative Julie brooksy says bills fall short of addressing the statute of limitation ins issue facing accusers so avoid University of michigan. Dr. Robert Anderson and others. The vast majority of people who commit these types of crimes are not Albert and big pick because the statute of limitations expired for their antenna are survivors up their crime before they are ready to come forward and cry. That’s what has happened at michigan statute of limitations only allows survivors of seconder third-degree child sex abuse to Press charges until 15 years after the crime took place or their 28th birthday.

 

Detroit, MI
Station Reach: 80,700
under the pretext of treatment Colin Jackson has more the proposed bills are part of a response to allegations of sexual abuse against the late former University of michigan. Dr. Robert Anderson Democratic state representative Julie breaks sees says she hopes future legislation will also expand the statute of limitations for child sex crimes dating back to her bad a child abuse go unreported because michigan statute of limitations for months and narrowing the entire country. State lawmakers previously expanded the statute of limitations for second and third-degree child sex crimes and 2018 to 15 years after the incident or until the

 

Tensions between U-M regents, President Mark Schlissel may have reached a boiling point

Detroit Free Press — Tensions between the University of Michigan Board of Regents and President Mark Schlissel have been building for more than a year and may have reached a boiling point this summer, sources told the Detroit Free Press.

The discontentment began around Schlissel’s handling of the case of Martin Philbert —  who held the position of provost, the school’s top academic officer — and Philbert’s long history of sexual misconduct at the university.

It rose again this summer, when news broke that the university’s new project in downtown Detroit, the Detroit Center for Innovation, as originally pitched to the regents was dead in the water. The board learned that Schlissel had kept them in the dark for months while he talked with the university’s top donor about the troubled project, according to multiple administration sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel speaks during the Board of Regents meeting on Thursday, June 15, 2017, at the Michigan Union in Ann Arbor. The new Go Blue Guarantee, unveiled and approved by the board will offer free tuition to some in-state students.

This story is built on accounts from seven university insiders and documents obtained by the Free Press that support accounts.

The board has kept the feelings of dissatisfaction behind closed doors, but that might change soon. It is tradition for the board to evaluate the president and give the officeholder a raise at the September board meeting. The board meets on Thursday.

Board member Mark Bernstein acknowledged the tensions exist, but characterized them as the normal workings of a board. He also defended Schlissel’s track record at the school — one of the nation’s top public universities.

“Given the countless complex issues that our board considers, disagreements with the administration are inevitable and, frankly, healthy for the university,” Bernstein said. “On the big things, our board has unanimously supported the ambitious agenda that President Schlissel has championed,” he said, mentioning the Go Blue Guarantee that gives free tuition to families who make under $65,000 a year and work on carbon neutrality for the university. “Nothing confirms the broad bipartisan support for President Schlissel more than our unity in furthering these consequential, concrete actions.”

The Free Press asked the remaining board members — all of whom are publicly elected officials — repeatedly for comment. None would grant an interview about Schlissel or his performance. Sources said that regents Jordan Acker, Denise Ilitch, Paul Brown and Katherine White have been the most unhappy with Schlissel. Bernstein and Regent Ron Weiser are those most in Schlissel’s corner.

It is not unusual for boards and presidents to disagree and for board members to be split over president’s performances. For example, the board at Wayne State University spent much of 2019 torn over whether to fire President Roy Wilson. However, unlike U-M, Wayne State’s board battle was conducted publicly, including at the board table.

Schlissel declined to answer specific questions asked by the Free Press, but issued a statement this week saying he is proud of the work being done at the university.

“The relationship between the Board of Regents and the president at the University of Michigan is critically important for the well-being of the institution,” he said in the statement. “While I will not discuss the private conversations I have had with members of the board, I will tell you how proud we all are of our important achievements during one of the most stressful times imaginable. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic these accomplishments speak to what we have done for the university by working effectively together.

“We are especially proud of the successful launch of a vibrant fall term with most classes being offered in person, a robust array of activities for students, research labs operating at full capacity and one of the most highly vaccinated communities anywhere in the region.”

The FBI failed Olympic gymnasts. What does that mean for everyone else?

WLFI

Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney won gold for the US in gymnastics but were ignored or dismissed by the country’s justice system for too long before Larry Nassar, the predator volunteering as a doctor for USA Gymnastics and working at Michigan State University, was put behind bars.

The gymnasts, who included US world championship team alum Maggie Nichols, told lawmakers in agonizing detail about their abuse by Nassar and how he had been able to continue after the FBI botched the first complaints made by Maroney in 2015.

Read CNN’s full report on the testimony

Because the FBI did not follow up, Nassar’s molestation of gymnasts went on, even after more complaints were made. Maroney was already a gold medal-winning gymnast at that point. How did that not create more alarm at the FBI?

What does it mean for victims who aren’t Olympic medalists?

When agents from Indianapolis finally did file a report on Maroney’s allegations, they botched that, too, relying on a page of notes and their memories. Maroney said the agents “made entirely false claims about what I said.”

An inspector general report this year agreed, and accused agents in Indianapolis of failing to properly investigate complaints, failing for more than a year to write a report on an interview in which Maroney had detailed her abuse and then lying to cover up their failures.

“After telling my entire story of abuse to the FBI in the summer of 2015, not only did the FBI not report my abuse, but when they eventually documented the report, 17 months later, they made entirely false claims about what I said,” she said.

The agent in charge of the Indianapolis office at the time, Jay Abbott, who actually wanted to apply for a job at USA Gymnastics after the Nassar scandal broke, has since retired. The agent who failed to follow up on Maroney’s accusations, Michael Langeman, was fired last week, before the women testified Wednesday. (Langeman declined to comment to The Washington Post on Tuesday.)

RELATED: Takeaways from the Senate hearing on the FBI’s failures to investigate gymnasts’ charges against Nassar

But lawmakers and the gymnasts would prefer criminal prosecutions, something the Justice Department, under both Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, has so far declined to pursue.

FBI Director Christopher Wray apologized, profusely, on Wednesday for the agency’s failure.

“I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed, and that is inexcusable. It never should have happened, and we’re doing everything in our power to make sure it never happens again,” Wray said.

All the women said that either they or people they knew had been molested in the 17 months during which the FBI had failed to act.

READ: Biles, Maroney, Raisman and Nichols opening statements before Congress

Here’s a detailed timeline of those failures published alongside the FBI Office of the Inspector General report. It also suggested policy changes.

“We have been failed, and we deserve answers,” said Biles.

Raisman talked about her own feelings of guilt about the system that had failed.

“So many survivors suffer with guilt and shame and so it takes everything I have to work on not taking the blame for that, because it’s horrific to know that over 100 victims could have been spared the abuse. All we needed was one adult to do the right thing,” she said.

Rachael Denhollander, the first survivor to speak publicly about Nassar’s abuse, is now a lawyer and talked Thursday on CNN about the need for accountability at the FBI.

“If a citizen were to behave — lying to the Department of Justice and investigators — the same way these FBI agents behaved, you can bet there would be grounds for criminal charges,” she said.

But a major problem is the systems built to protect institutions like the FBI, USA Gymnastics, and Michigan State.

“For all of us to continually have to keep raising our voices, and fighting not just an abuser but a system that protected him, is exhausting and retraumatizing,” said Denhollander. “It’s a reminder that it’s not just the abuser who is untrustworthy. It’s everybody around you, too.”

There is plenty of evidence for what she says — the abuse scandal at Ohio State University featured another doctor, the late Richard Strauss, but the victims were wrestlers, not gymnasts.

At Penn State, it was assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky abusing young boys for at least 15 years.

At Michigan, as we’ve learned this summer, it was the football coach’s son, Matt Schembechler, who said he was among the team doctor’s victims in 1969. Dr. Robert Anderson would stay at the university until 2003. There are potentially hundreds of victims.

There are much smaller stories too.

Remember Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House? He was disgraced after the allegations in 2015 that as a high school teacher and coach in Illinois he had molested at least four boys.

One of his accusers had demanded hush money from Hastert, who drew scrutiny from the FBI when he withdrew large sums of money.

He actually worked with federal agents to trap the man, accusing him of extortion and recording phone conversations. Until the man told agents Hastert had abused him.

Hastert ultimately served 13 months in prison. He never faced sexual abuse charges because the statute of limitation had expired, but he pleaded guilty in October 2015 to structuring bank transactions in a way that evaded requirements that he report where the money was going.

But the story ended Wednesday: As the gymnasts were testifying on Capitol Hill about their abuse, the former House speaker reached a tentative out-of-court settlement with the man who accused him of abuse.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

The FBI failed Olympic gymnasts. What does that mean for everyone else?

KAKE — Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney won gold for the US in gymnastics but were ignored or dismissed by the country’s justice system for too long before Larry Nassar, the predator volunteering as a doctor for USA Gymnastics and working at Michigan State University, was put behind bars.

The gymnasts, who included US world championship team alum Maggie Nichols, told lawmakers in agonizing detail about their abuse by Nassar and how he had been able to continue after the FBI botched the first complaints made by Maroney in 2015.

Because the FBI did not follow up, Nassar’s molestation of gymnasts went on, even after more complaints were made. Maroney was already a gold medal-winning gymnast at that point. How did that not create more alarm at the FBI?

What does it mean for victims who aren’t Olympic medalists?

When agents from Indianapolis finally did file a report on Maroney’s allegations, they botched that, too, relying on a page of notes and their memories. Maroney said the agents “made entirely false claims about what I said.”

An inspector general report this year agreed, and accused agents in Indianapolis of failing to properly investigate complaints, failing for more than a year to write a report on an interview in which Maroney had detailed her abuse and then lying to cover up their failures.

“After telling my entire story of abuse to the FBI in the summer of 2015, not only did the FBI not report my abuse, but when they eventually documented the report, 17 months later, they made entirely false claims about what I said,” she said.

The agent in charge of the Indianapolis office at the time, Jay Abbott, who actually wanted to apply for a job at USA Gymnastics after the Nassar scandal broke, has since retired. The agent who failed to follow up on Maroney’s accusations, Michael Langeman, was fired last week, before the women testified Wednesday. (Langeman declined to comment to The Washington Post on Tuesday.)

But lawmakers and the gymnasts would prefer criminal prosecutions, something the Justice Department, under both Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, has so far declined to pursue.

FBI Director Christopher Wray apologized, profusely, on Wednesday for the agency’s failure.

“I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed, and that is inexcusable. It never should have happened, and we’re doing everything in our power to make sure it never happens again,” Wray said.

All the women said that either they or people they knew had been molested in the 17 months during which the FBI had failed to act.

Here’s a detailed timeline of those failures published alongside the FBI Office of the Inspector General report. It also suggested policy changes.

“We have been failed, and we deserve answers,” said Biles.

Raisman talked about her own feelings of guilt about the system that had failed.

“So many survivors suffer with guilt and shame and so it takes everything I have to work on not taking the blame for that, because it’s horrific to know that over 100 victims could have been spared the abuse. All we needed was one adult to do the right thing,” she said.

Rachael Denhollander, the first survivor to speak publicly about Nassar’s abuse, is now a lawyer and talked Thursday on CNN about the need for accountability at the FBI.

“If a citizen were to behave — lying to the Department of Justice and investigators — the same way these FBI agents behaved, you can bet there would be grounds for criminal charges,” she said.

But a major problem is the systems built to protect institutions like the FBI, USA Gymnastics, and Michigan State.

“For all of us to continually have to keep raising our voices, and fighting not just an abuser but a system that protected him, is exhausting and retraumatizing,” said Denhollander. “It’s a reminder that it’s not just the abuser who is untrustworthy. It’s everybody around you, too.”

There is plenty of evidence for what she says — the abuse scandal at Ohio State University featured another doctor, the late Richard Strauss, but the victims were wrestlers, not gymnasts.

At Penn State, it was assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky abusing young boys for at least 15 years.

At Michigan, as we’ve learned this summer, it was the football coach’s son, Matt Schembechler, who said he was among the team doctor’s victims in 1969. Dr. Robert Anderson would stay at the university until 2003. There are potentially hundreds of victims.

There are much smaller stories too.

Remember Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House? He was disgraced after the allegations in 2015 that as a high school teacher and coach in Illinois he had molested at least four boys.

One of his accusers had demanded hush money from Hastert, who drew scrutiny from the FBI when he withdrew large sums of money.

He actually worked with federal agents to trap the man, accusing him of extortion and recording phone conversations. Until the man told agents Hastert had abused him.

Hastert ultimately served 13 months in prison. He never faced sexual abuse charges because the statute of limitation had expired, but he pleaded guilty in October 2015 to structuring bank transactions in a way that evaded requirements that he report where the money was going.

But the story ended Wednesday: As the gymnasts were testifying on Capitol Hill about their abuse, the former House speaker reached a tentative out-of-court settlement with the man who accused him of abuse.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Spotlight Michigan Report

Dr. Robert Anderson Lawsuit Report 9-10-21

Detroit, MI
getting vaccinated and like many Americans, they say that they are pro vaccine an anti mandate many small businesses and workers do not have the money or the legal resources to fight Biden’s unconstitutional actions the Dr. Robert Anderson scandal at the University of michigan is causing more problems. Now for the school not being sued for what some say is a violation of the open meetings act the University in michigan has a policy that region’s meetings only 5 speakers on the public on anyone topic but there are hundreds of survivors from the late Dr. Robert Anderson and many were denies speaking at the July border regions meeting after Nate Parker’s Steiner says you’ve now violated the open meetings act why both
Detroit, MI
to say he’d rather not have the time at all in the studio anded to event accommodate me on the masking a pandemic be Dr. Robert Anderson scandal at the University of michigan is causing more problems for the school not being sued for what some say is a violation of the open meetings act the University admission as a policy regions meetings only 5 speakers from the public on anyone topic but there are hundreds of survivors from the late Dr. Robert Anderson and many were tonight speaking at the July border regions meeting Attorney Parker’s Steiner says you’ve now violated open meetings act why both survivors of sexual abuse should have the opportunity to confront their use in this case, Dr.
Detroit, MI
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down. >> thank you. 4:48 is the time. the university of michigan is facing more heat over the dr. robert anderson sex scandal. in a lawsuit filed yesterday, ten people that claim anderson abused them say that they tried to speak in july’s meeting of the board of regents but were denied the chance. the school allowed 5 survivors the opportunity to speak. attorneys say this move silenced victims of sexual abuse and violated michigan’s open meetings act. u.m. says they were enforcing a