Michigan State University set to give AG's office Nassar documents late this month

Michigan State University plans to give unreleased documents linked to the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal to the Michigan Attorney General's Office later this month, the university's president said Friday.

"MSU's Office of the General Counsel has met with the Attorney General's Office, and they have mutually determined that the document transfer process will begin in late February," Interim MSU President Teresa Woodruff said during her final report to the university's Board of Trustees at a Friday meeting.

On Dec. 15, the board voted unanimously to release the university documents.

Before that, MSU officials said they wouldn't release the documents because of attorney-client privilege. The more than 4,000 documents emerged in 2018 at the height of the Larry Nassar scandal when MSU's Board asked then-Attorney General Bill Schuette to investigate the university's handling of complaints about the serial molester.

Nassar was sentenced that same year to decades of imprisonment for the assault of hundreds of women and girls, mostly female athletes, and for possessing child pornography. A judge ruled the documents need not be disclosed because of attorney-client privilege.

However, the board's members later agreed to release the withheld documents years after Nassar victims and their allies lobbied for the release to promote healing. The number of withheld documents has been widely reported as 6,000, and MSU Trustee Renee Knake Jefferson reported after a 2020 review that there were almost 10,000. But MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant said 4,237 privileged documents have been withheld in their entirety.

Full truth, closure sought as MSU prepares to release Nassar documents to Nessel

Earlier this week, Parents of Sister Survivors Engage (POSSE) withdrew a lawsuit filed in July related to MSU's failure to release the documents.

“This is a victory on a long road to truth that the survivors and the public need in order to learn how MSU acted in the Nassar case,” said Azzam Elder, the attorney representing POSSE and the Sister Survivors. 

Friday's Board of Trustees meeting was also the last for Woodruff, who is stepping down when newly appointed MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz takes over in early March.

Woodruff served as the university's provost and was named interim president in October 2022 after the resignation of President Samuel Stanley, who said he "lost confidence" in the board, which asked him to leave the post two years early due to the university's handling of sexual misconduct issues.

Stanley was hired in 2019 following interim stints by former Michigan Gov. John Engler and MSU professor Satish Udpa. Former President Lou Anna Simon stepped down in 2018 amid the Nassar sex abuse scandal.

Officials said in December that Woodruff will resume faculty work and restart her lab in the MSU Department of OB/GYN in the College of Human Medicine and in the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering.

Board members praised Woodruff on Friday and thanked her for her work as the university's interim president.

"I express our collective gratitude to you for your unwavering leadership," said Board Chairwoman Rema Vassar during Friday's meeting. "There have been dark days, and you have stepped up in ways that an interim (president) may not generally do. Your steadfast commitment to our institution's mission has been inspirational."

Staff Writer Kim Kozlowski contributed.

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