MSU President John Engler Set To Resign After Blasting Larry Nassar’s Victims For ‘Enjoying The Spotlight’
Larry Nassar will likely go down in history as one of the worst child molester of young girls in U.S. sporting history. In his role as the U.S.A. Gymnastics team doctor, Nassar is accused of having abused at least 250 girls and young women dating back to 1992.
In a landmark victory for the victims, Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison in July 2017, with another 40 to 175 years later added to his sentence in January 2018 for sexual assault on minors, and just a month yet another 40 to 125 years for an additional three sexual assault charges.
While most have condemned Nassar for his heinous actions against young and vulnerable girls, some have spoken up with sympathy for the pathological sex criminal. According to a report by the Detroit Metro Times, the interim president of Michigan State University, former governor John Engler, is in hot water for accusing Nassar’s victims of “enjoying the attention.”
“You’ve got people, they are hanging on and this has been … there are a lot of people who are touched by this, survivors who haven’t been in the spotlight,” Engler said.
“In some ways, they have been able to deal with this better than the ones who’ve been in the spotlight who are still enjoying that moment at times, you know, the awards and recognition.”
A day after the comments, a spokesperson called them “ill-advised.”
Interim MSU president John Engler says Larry Nassar's victims are having a blast in the "spotlight": https://t.co/xVGOc7v9eu pic.twitter.com/qXWSlVq9Yy
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) January 15, 2019
Unfortunately for Engler, his remarks have not exactly been taken very well by the community at large, or by his employers. According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, Engler is set to resign from his post as interim president at the university.
On Wednesday, the board was expecting to receive “a letter from Engler spelling out the reasons he would step down and the effective date of his resignation,” per Joel Ferguson, a member of the board.
This comes after Engler previously refused to resign from the post, and makes him the second president at the university on whose campus Nassar worked to resign since the disgraced doctor’s scandal broke.
Another board member, Brian Mosallam, has said that “the votes are there” to force Engler from his post. A meeting is scheduled for Thursday to deal with the president. Mosallam was so delighted that Engler will be resigning that he took to social media site Twitter with his all-caps key depressed to write, “JOHN ENGLER’S REIGN OF TERROR IS OVER.”
It’s also not the first time Engler has spoken out against Nassar’s victims, having previously accused some of them of taking “kickbacks” from their legal counsel.
