Three Michigan State University administrators sat down with William Strampel in the summer of 2005, concerned about reports of inappropriate sexual comments made by Strampel, then dean of the university's College of Osteopathic Medicine, in public presentations and to students.
The meeting, called by acting provost John Hudzik, was documented by Kristine Zayko, then an associate general counsel at MSU and until this month, acting general counsel, the university's top legal officer, according to documents obtained by the Detroit Free Press. Also in attendance was Robert Banks, who handled personnel issues in the provost's office.
Instead of taking tough action against Strampel, now facing a hearing as MSU tries to strip him of tenure to fire him, the trio of administrators decided to simply place a letter in Strampel's personnel file, documenting the talk. They also got verbal promises from Strampel that he would change.
He didn't.
Thirteen years later, he is facing charges of groping a female student and misusing his office. A forensic examination of Strampel's work computer found about 50 photographs of "bare vaginas, nude and semi-nude women, sex toys and pornography," according to the charging affidavit. Some of the nude women appeared to be MSU students.
MSU officials confirmed the meeting, which they have never disclosed, after the Free Press started asking questions.
Critics of the university wonder: Why wasn't Strampel stopped then and why wasn't the problem with the dean brought to the university's board?
The presence of Zayko, the only one of the three still in a high-level position at the university, had added fuel to the arguments of critics who question the guidance given by the university general counsel's office in both the Strampel case and a 2014 investigation into Larry Nassar, the MSU doctor accused of molesting dozens of female student athletes. Strampel was Nassar's boss.
Zayko won't be in her position for much longer. MSU confirmed Thursday after the Free Press inquired about it that Zayko resigned her position last week as the school's top lawyer and will take a job in the private sector. There's no end date set for when Zayko will step down.
Zayko's resignation comes as two board members - Dianne Byrum and Brian Mosallam - told the Free Press she should leave. They say Zayko knew about complaints against Strampel and Nassar and never brought them to the attention of the board, whom she regularly briefed on issues.
"The fact that Kristine Zayko was aware of the 2014 Nassar investigation and Strampel's history since 2005 and yet never elevated either to the board is very troubling," Mosallam told the Free Press earlier this week before Zayko's resignation was known. "I believe Kristine Zayko should do what is right for MSU and immediately step down as acting general counsel. I have zero confidence in her ability to properly advise this university. We need someone from the outside with a different mindset and approach to be MSU's acting general counsel."
Byrum agreed Zayko should step down in a statement she issued to the Free Press before Zayko's resignation.
"I voted no on the appointment of Kristine Zayko because I lacked confidence in her ability to effectively serve the MSU community and help fix the broken culture at MSU. In light of this troubling new information, she should step down immediately as the interim general counsel."
In a statement earlier this week before it was known she was stepping down, Zayko defended her actions as a lawyer at MSU.
"First and foremost, I am sorry that anyone has been assaulted, abused or harassed on this campus. When I was a student here, too many victims of assault and harassment were afraid to report or seek help. I am grateful to every survivor who has come forward to tell their story. You should continue to push and challenge this university until real culture change occurs.
"I have ethically served the university and the Office of General Counsel for more than 20 years with honesty and respect. As lawyers, the very nature of our work is confidential and we don't have the liberty to discuss details of the legal advice we've given, regardless of whether it has been taken or ignored."
Strampel's contract as dean wasn't just renewed with a slap on the wrist in that 2005 meeting. It happened again five years later — a renewal despite more complaints about sexual comments. And again another five years later — despite continuing complaints.
"He could seriously embarrass the university"
In 2006, Nicole Eastman enrolled in MSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine. One year later, she met Strampel while volunteering at a flu vaccination clinic. He launched into a "very inappropriate" conversation in which he said women's lower tolerance for alcohol made it easier for men to have sex with them.
"There's just really nothing to say in response," she said. Later, she had a lunch with a faculty member and told her about the comments. The faculty member sighed and told her everybody knew that Strampel made sexually inappropriate comments, but no action was ever taken against him.
Three years after that, in her senior year, she had another run-in with Strampel.
Standing next to Strampel, his wife and other college administrators at the annual fundraising ball, Eastman felt someone grope her butt in what she described as a firm grab.
"I turned and saw it was the dean of my medical school," she said. "His wife was standing right there. Other faculty were right there. Nobody said anything. I didn't know what to do. I was just stunned."
Eastman said she didn't formally report the incident at the time because she was near graduation.
Then, this January, she followed the Nassar trial and reached out to Rachel Denhollander, one of the most prominent Nassar survivors. At Denhollander's urging, Eastman shared her story with investigators in the Michigan Attorney General's Office. Eastman is listed as victim 4 in the criminal complaint against Strampel.
Five years before Strampel groped Eastman, MSU officials knew Strampel was prone to sexually inappropriate comments.
Hudzik was just starting as interim provost — the top academic officer at a university — in 2005 when he was told that concerns had been raised about Strampel during a routine performance review to decide whether Strampel should be reappointed as dean. Hudzik was interim provost for one year and currently is a professor in MSU's School of Criminal Justice.
"Frequently makes inappropriate comments (crude jokes, comments about sex) in public settings," one person said about Strampel, according to a document obtained by the Free Press from sources.
"Sometimes speaks inappropriately to students," another said.
"Occasionally I blush at his coarseness and lack of discretion," a third comment said. "It's possible that he could seriously embarrass (the university) at some point."
Hudzik called Strampel in for a meeting and asked Zayko and Banks, who retired in 2007, to join him. Banks could not be reached for this story.
Hudzik confronted Strampel about the remarks. Strampel said he was just joking with the comments.
"I said to him, 'These kinds of comments are offensive," Hudzik told the Free Press earlier this week.
New in his temporary role, Hudzik, who replaced Lou Anna Simon when she was promoted to president, turned to Zayko and Banks for advice on what to do. Their advice? Place a letter in Strampel's personnel file, Hudzik told the Free Press.
The Free Press obtained Strampel's personnel file from the university under a Freedom of Information Act request. It did not contain a letter of reprimand or any performance reviews or any of the sheets of anonymous comments. Hudzik didn't know why the letter wasn't in the file.
"I wanted assurances that such behavior would not be repeated," Hudzik said. "He gave me that. There were no formal complaints against him."
Strampel was reappointed to another five-year term as dean, a time period that covered Eastman's time at MSU.
"This shouldn't have happened to me," she said when told by the Free Press of the 2005 meeting. "They could have gotten rid of him — even quietly. Why didn't anybody have any common sense that what he was doing was wrong and he needed to go."
She also said those who were in the meeting and continue in leadership should be replaced.
"You cannot keep people who don't protect students," she said.
Five years later, a similar review of Strampel was done. Similar concerns about his inappropriate sexual comments were raised.
“Dean Strampel should not interject sex into every conversation with staff and students," one comment read, according to a copy of the document obtained by the Free Press from sources.
“I have witnessed unprofessional and sexual comments from the dean about female students — including remarks from the dean of a female wearing ‘come (expletive) me heels’ and another instance where he admitt(ed) to knowing a student for a long period and how ‘she certainly filled out nicely.’”
Like 2005, no action was taken against Strampel. Kim Wilcox was the provost then and is currently the chancellor at the University of California — Riverside.
"As part of the 2010 review process, I received some anonymous feedback that Strampel had made several inappropriate comments,” Wilcox wrote in a statement in April 2018after reporters asked him about the 2010 Strampel review process. “In response, I instituted a corrective action plan that directed Strampel to cease making such comments and to obtain counsel on proper and professional communications."
Five years after that — in 2015 — another review of Strampel was done. The same concerns were raised. Nothing was done.
June Youatt was the provost then and currently is the provost.
"The results included several accounts of inappropriate remarks and a number of concerns about uncouth and sometimes offensive language during the review period," Youatt said in a statement issued to the Lansing State Journal in April.
"The concerns raised were taken seriously, and I specifically addressed these in the required post-review conversation. At that point, no complaints had been filed with OIE (Office of Institutional Equity, which investigates sexual assault allegations) or MSUPD regarding Strampel’s behavior."
Then, earlier this year, Strampel was arrested.
Strampel, 70, of DeWitt, faces four criminal charges, including a felony count of misconduct in office. Charging documents accuse Strampel of using his position as dean of to "harass, discriminate, demean, sexually proposition, and sexually assault female students."
An affidavit filed in support of charges describes the experiences four women told investigators they had with Strampel, which included two who said he groped them and accusations of sexually inappropriate comments. Investigators also found the pornography and pictures of nude women on Strampel's work computer.
MSU Interim President John Engler, who took over earlier this year when Simon resigned, told the Free Press in a statement the review process needs work.
"What has become very clear to me these past few months is that we need sweeping changes in our Human Resources, staff and faculty review policies. We need improved systems in place to make sure inappropriate behavior cannot continue over time, and to ensure better consistency and accountability in the reviews."
The Nassar investigation in 2014
For Mosallam, the involvement of the general counsel's office through Zayko in the 2005 case just highlights the need for an investigation into that office.
"On January 29, I called for an independent review of OGC's handling of the Nassar matter and sexual misconduct matters generally," he said. "It is clear to me why that has not yet happened."
That includes looking at the 2014 internal MSU investigation into Nassar, which ultimately cleared him of any wrong-doing.
E-mails obtained by the Free Press from sources show the general counsel's office was monitoring and involved in the investigation.
As the summer of 2014 marched forward, Kristine Moore, then a Title IX investigator at MSU, was nearly done investigating a claim that Nassar, then a world-famous MSU doctor because of his work with Olympic athletes, had sexually assaulted a student.
Moore's investigation and report was being monitored by Theresa Kelley, an attorney in MSU's general counsel's office, but there was an issue — Kelley was scheduled to go on vacation.
So, on the morning of June 13, 2014, Kelley sent an email to Moore and Strampel, then Nassar's boss, according to documents obtained by the Free Press. With a subject line of "RE: Status—Nassar Investigation," Kelley advised Moore and Strampel she would be on vacation until June 24 and that "if advice needed quickly," they should call Zayko.
MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant told the Free Press no one reached out to Zayko for advice and she was not involved in the Nassar investigation.
On July 17, 2014, Kelley emailed Strampel to tell him she had reviewed a draft copy of the draft report and Moore would be sending the report to Nassar.
Eleven days later, Moore sent an email to Kelley and Strampel, noting a report had been sent to Nassar and a version of a report "without the substantive text in the conclusion section" was sent to the woman who filed the report, Amanda Thomashow.
The investigation centered on an early 2014 appointment Thomashow, who was then a recent MSU graduate, had with Nassar seeking treatment for hip pain.
During that appointment, Nassar cupped her buttocks and then, about an hour into the appointment, he sent the only other person present, a female resident, out of the examination room. Then he massaged her breast and vaginal area.
She told him to stop, but he didn't. He only stopped when she physically removed his hands from her.
MSU's report cleared Nassar, saying it was a medical procedure and relied on four medical professionals who had ties to Nassar, who all said it was a recognized procedure.
Calls for more change
Nassar's sexual assaults didn't make their way into the open until 2016, when Denhollander went public in an Indianapolis Star article. That ended up leading to investigations that ended with Nassar's sentencing and his firing from MSU.
Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography charges and is in a maximum-security federal prison in Tucson, Ariz. He also faces a 40- to 175-year sentence issued in Ingham County and a 40- to 125-year sentence from Eaton County, where he was charged with a total of 10 sexual assaults. Those sentences will not begin until he finishes the federal sentence.
Hundreds of Nassar victims have sued MSU in federal court, alleging a cover-up. Those suits are currently in mediation.
MSU board members have said they did not learn of the accusations against Nassar until that article was published. They want to know why, especially if the general counsel's office was aware of the investigation for years and the Strampel issues for more than a decade.
"I recently called for MSU's administration to put in place an up-the-ladder and escalation policy so that the board learns of potential problems very early rather than when it is too late like we had here so we can deal with those issues before they proliferate," Mosallam said.
In February, after Nassar had been sentenced, Robert Noto, MSU's general counsel retired from the job he had held since 1995. Engler promoted Zayko.
“From everything I have seen since taking on the role of interim president three months ago, Kristine Zayko has acted with professionalism and integrity," Engler said in a statement issued to the Free Press on Thursday. "She did not ask to become acting general counsel, but it was a role the university and I needed her to accept as we continue making improvements."
Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj
