x
Breaking News
More () »

He defended Michigan State vs. sexual assaults. Now he heads Title IX.

MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant defended the appointment, saying Kent's "expertise and background in working with civil rights cases and Title IX policies are helpful in the interim role."
Credit: D.L. Turner/Michigan State University
Robert Kent has been named interim director of Michigan State University's Title IX office

A Michigan State University attorney who defended the institution against sexual assault lawsuits is now heading the office handling sexual assault complaints — a move that is drawing criticism from victim advocates.

This month, Robert Kent was moved out of his assistant general counsel position and into the job of interim associate vice president of the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Education and Compliance — a decision made by MSU Interim President John Engler that is drawing scrutiny from critics, who say the move could send a discouraging message from the university.

"At every turn, they signal an unwillingness to deal with the culture, and a message to survivors that their voices don’t matter," said Rachael Denhollander, the first Larry Nassar sex assault victim to come forth publicly. She said, in her view, the appointment of Kent to handle Title IX cases was the latest in a string of insensitive moves.

MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant defended the appointment, saying Kent's "expertise and background in working with civil rights cases and Title IX policies are helpful in the interim role."

According to a June 18 news release about his appointment, Kent started working at the university in 2014 in the Office of General Counsel. The release says: "He was instrumental in establishing the University Policy on Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct as well as working with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights during their reviews of MSU’s handling of sexual assault cases."

Guerrant said Kent's new role is temporary while MSU conducts a national search for a new head of the office. Kent, the news release says, now is "responsible for the departments that investigate civil rights and Title IX complaints and that are responsible for prevention, education and outreach efforts."

Experts, though, questioned the decision to appoint an attorney with a history of defending the university against lawsuits that have alleged Title IX violations.

Earlier this month, Kent withdrew from representing MSU and university officials in three lawsuits filed by women who have said they were sexually assaulted. Filings in each case requesting that he be replaced by attorneys from the law firm Pepper Hamilton say Kent “is taking a different position at Michigan State University.”

One lawsuit Kent withdrew from was filed by a woman accusing MSU of mishandling her sexual assault complaint against a football player. The lawsuit alleges, among other claims, that MSU took too long to conduct the investigation and failed to ensure the woman and man she had accused would not run into each other on campus.

Kent wrote in a court filing that "mere delays in the disciplinary process, or a school's failure to follow its internal policies and procedures, do not rise to the level of deliberate indifference." And even if the woman "were able to prove that MSU's actions constitute deliberate indifference (which she does not), she cannot show that MSU's actions caused her to suffer any additional harassment by her alleged assailant — in fact, she never saw the man again."

Another lawsuit Kent withdrew from was filed in April by a woman alleging MSU counseling staff discouraged her from reporting that she had been raped by three basketball players. The university issued a statement in responseto the lawsuit that detailed the woman’s counseling center history, may have violated a federal student privacy law and endangered grant funding for sexual assault counseling services.

Emails obtained by the Free Press show Kent was involved in the crafting of that controversial response.

In an email April 11 with the subject line "Lawsuit Response statement," Guerrant indicated to Carol Viventi, special counsel to Engler, that Kent was reviewing materials. Kent wrote to Guerrant in an email: “Attached is my limited redline of the document. I will call you in a moment to discuss.” MSU blacked out the subject line of that email before providing it to the Free Press.

The emails also show an apparent dispute between Kent and former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Young, who, at the time, was serving as special counsel for MSU. Young was recently hired as the university's General Counsel.

Details are limited because emails produced by MSU for the Free Press had information removed, but in an email April 11, Young wrote to Kent that he had not given him “prior notice that you would not be able to meet the deadlines we discussed.” Attorney Kristine Zayko, who recently resigned from serving as MSU's acting general counsel, wrote in an email to Kent: "I do not view this as an acceptable communication to you from Bob Young."

Karen Truszkowski, who is representing women suing the university, declined to comment on Kent's changing role at MSU, saying: “I think that anybody in that position is going to be challenged.”

Brenda Tracy, a nationally known victim rights advocate and rape survivor, said her impression is Engler "just wants survivors to go away and shut up." Kent's appointment, she said, could make victims too uncomfortable to report assaults.

"Who will want to go to a Title IX office ... being led by one of the spearheads of protecting the MSU brand?" Tracy said. "It’s appalling to me. Part of his job … protecting MSU and its brand is picking apart survivors. There’s a way to help survivors and still help their brand. I think if you are protecting survivors, you are building a brand that it is safe here. You are telling parents you want to send your kids here because if something happens, we will take care of them.

"This doesn’t do that."

Engler is quoted praising Kent in the news release about his appointment.

“We are fortunate to have someone with Rob’s expertise who can step in during this time of transition,” Engler is quoted as saying. “His background working with civil rights cases, Title IX policies and being familiar with litigation will be a big asset to our efforts to expand MSU’s response" to reports of sexual assault.

But others said Kent will have to overcome a perception issue.

John Clune, an attorney based in Boulder, Colorado, who handles cases related to sexual assault on campuses, said a Title IX coordinator should be someone not influenced by litigation and liability concerns. That could be difficult for a person who has a background defending the university, he said.

Clune said the appearance from a student standpoint could raise concerns about “whether his focus is on, you know, compliance and best practices versus liability issues.”

He said it may not be problematic, on a temporary basis, to fill the position with an associate general counsel while a search is conducted for a replacement. But from an optics standpoint, Clune questioned the message being sent to the MSU community. He said with every decision the university should be considering whether it continues to “undermine people's faith in our processes."

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj

Contact Gina Kaufman: 313-223-4526 or gkaufman@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ReporterGina

Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the WZZM 13 app now.

Have a news tip? Email news@wzzm13.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter.

Before You Leave, Check This Out