MSU reviewing 'explicit' hand gesture allegedly made by Vassar during March meeting

Michigan State University is reviewing an alleged "explicit" hand gesture made by Trustee Rema Vassar during the Board of Trustees special late-night meeting last month, Chair Dan Kelly said during Friday's board meeting.

The review was prompted by reports of "an explicit hand gesture made by Trustee Vassar toward Trustee (Dianne) Byrum and Trustee (Brianna) Scott at the special board meeting on March 3," Kelly said. Scott and Byrum had sought Vassar's removal as board chair months before the special online meeting.

While the review by the university's Office of Audit Risk and Compliance is still going on, if Vassar did something improper, "the board condemns those actions," Kelly said.

"The board is supportive of ... any recommendations or potential corrective actions it deems to be in alignment with its findings," Kelly said.

The university began an investigation into the allegation following a formal complaint through the misconduct hotline to the Office of Audit, Risk and Compliance following the March 3 special board meeting, MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant said.

Vassar, in a recent interview with The Detroit News, denied making any inappropriate gestures.

She participated in Friday's meeting remotely and could not be reached afterward. But during the meeting, she said MSU needs healing and recent incidents have taken a toll on her.

"It's our responsibility to Michiganders to be open and honest," Vassar said. "I have been (and) there's been a great cost to pay. I'm not perfect, and I don't deserve the mistreatment I've received. ... But I know who I am and I know whose I am and I also know, and I'm sure you do that I'll continue to strive to make my parents proud and to be an example of resilience to those who are marginalized."

Vassar made history in January 2023 when she was elected as the the first Black woman to chair the board, with Scott casting the deciding vote.

But 10 months later, Scott called on Vassar to resign as chair and asked board members to refer Vassar to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for removal. In a letter Scott wrote to the board in October, she lodged 10 allegations against Vassar such as violating the board's rules of conduct and ethics, and bullying board members and administrators.

Days later, at the board's October board meeting, Byrum said she couldn't get three votes to bring a motion to the floor to remove Vassar as chair. Vassar said she wouldn't resign.

MSU hired Washington, D.C.-based law firm Miller & Chevalier to investigate. The investigators concluded in a Feb. 29 report Vassar and Trustee Dennis Denno violated the university's policies and bylaws and should be referred to Whitmer for possible removal from office. The report said it substantiated some, but not all, of the allegations, adding that, in some cases, the behavior of Vassar and Denno "fell short of the conduct expected of Trustees and fiduciaries of a public institution like MSU.

The board gathered to review the report in a special, late-night virtual meeting on March 3, the night before the first day of new President Kevin Guskiewicz.

Vassar’s resigned as chair hours before the board voted 6-2 to recommend that Whitmer consider Vassar and Denno for removal. Whitmer has not acted on the request.

Trustees also sanctioned Vassar, Denno and Scott during the meeting, which is when Vassar allegedly displayed an inappropriate hand gesture.

"The Rochester-based Miller Law firm, which represents Vassar, later slammed the Miller & Chevalier report as incomplete, lacking due process, biased, "deeply flawed and unnecessarily divisive."

Vassar also said she has been the target of "relentlessly attacks" since she has been chair and that efforts to remove her are part of a "larger campaign and agenda to marginalize, silence, discredit and shame Black women."

The last removal hearing was held in September 2008 when then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm held a proceeding about Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick connected to his affair with a top aide. The hearing was stopped when Kilpatrick agreed to resign from office.

In other instances, Whitmer's office has been asked by county officials to initiate removal proceedings against other county officials, but none have occurred.

"The governor shall have the power … to remove from office for gross neglect of duty or for corrupt conduct in office, or any other misfeasance or malfeasance therein, and report the causes of such removal to the legislature at its next session," according to Michigan law. "Such person shall be served with a written notice of the charges against him and be afforded an opportunity for a public hearing conducted personally by the governor."

kkozlowski@detroitnews.com