EAST LANSING - Survivors of abuse by former Michigan State University sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar and their supporters demanded on Friday morning that university officials restart the Healing Assistance Fund for Nassar's victims.
The $10 million fund was frozen in July over concerns of fraud, though officials said none of the fraudulent claims were made by survivors who've filed criminal or civil complaints.
Earlier this month, interim MSU President John Engler announced the permanent shuttering of the fund, which was created to pay for counseling services for those Nassar had abused.
"Is this really how you’re going to help everybody heal and get closure?" said Leslie Miller, the mother of survivor Emma Ann Miller. "Was the healing fund always just intended to be a publicity stunt to help your image or do you actually care about survivors in this community?"
Then, directly addressing Engler, she said, "Your actions have shown again and again that you’re only interested in the bottom line...Are you going to be OK with that in the end?"
Engler and members of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees also heard from survivors Emma Ann Miller, Morgan McCaul and Kaylee Lorincz, among others.
Trustees took no action on the fund at the meeting.
Kaylee Lorincz speaks before the MSU Board of Trustees on Dec. 14 to ask for the Healing Assistance Fund to be reinstated. RJ Wolcott, Lansing State Journal
“We think that the $425 million payment (to survivors), which included the $8 million (remaining in the Healing Assistance Fund) will be able to handle any possible future mental health treatment or issues,” Engler said following Friday’s meeting.
Not everyone who was eligible for the Healing Assistance Fund is getting settlement money. Only the 333 survivors who MSU settled with are eligible for the $425 million paid earlier this month. Another group of more than 160 is currently suing MSU, and Engler said they could be entitled to $75 million set aside by MSU for future litigation.
The healing assistance fund was made available to individuals who saw Nassar in the MSU health clinic or as student-athletes and their parents. It was meant to cover out-of-pocket medical expenses for counseling services from licensed professionals. The number of people eligible for money in that fund greatly outnumber those who've settled with the university relating to Nassar's abuses.
"We've had hope a lot over the past few years, and we've been disappointed pretty much every time," said Larissa Boyce. "Yeah, I have a small piece of hope that they'll open it up. I never actually used the Healing Fund, but my parents did, for counseling. All of the family members are not being supported anymore, all of the survivors who, for their own reasons, didn't seek to be part of the settlement, they have nothing to help them."
In a memo to trustees on Dec. 3, Engler wrote that the $8.6 million left in the healing fund would be used to reduce the amount of borrowing needed to pay the $500 million settlement. MSU paid $425 million earlier this month to a fund set up to distribute funds to the 333 survivors who've settled with the university.
Engler said Friday that more than $527,000 of the $1.2 million distributed by the prior to its freezing went to individuals trying to defraud the university.
Julie Thomas-Beckett, a nurse practitioner and MSU alumna, said she was embarrassed and disgusted by the decision to permanently close the fund.
Referencing MSU's recently completed Empowering Extraordinary fundraising campaign, Thomas-Beckett said ending the fund "is not extraordinary. It demotes the entire university to the ordinary, the mundane, the reactionary."
Trustees Brian Mosallam and Dianne Byrum and incoming trustees Brianna Scott and Kelly Tebay, all Democrats, released a statement last week saying they did not support closure of the fund.
Mosallam struck similar notes on Friday, saying closing the fund against the advice of MSU's Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct Expert Advisory Workgroup was "counterintuitive."
"In January, we have different trustees coming who might have a different viewpoint," he added. "We’ll pick that up as soon as we can get some help."
Friday was the last meeting for trustees Mitch Lyons and Brian Breslin. Both chose not to run for reelection. The two Republicans will be replaced in January by democrats Brianna Scott and Kelly Tebay.
Last month, Trustee George Perles stepped down, citing health issues. Gov. Rick Snyder is expected to appoint Perles' successor, who will serve out the remainder of Perles' term, which expires in 2023.
Brian Breslin gives farewell statement during the MSU Board of Trustees meeting Dec. 14. RJ Wolcott, Lansing State Journal
Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr. Contact Madison O'Connor at 517-377-1047 or moconnor1@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @madisonoconn.
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