Important read, Detroit News subscription is worth it for their reporting here
TLDR for MSU sports - board is being shady enough with Stanley/Woodruff/Gupta incident the school's largest donors are backing away. READ: NIL could decrease
TLDR - board back Stanley and provost Woodruff to take control of school. Gupta is well liked by alumni, has been at the school doing great work for 15 years (including getting the largest grant ever from a donor in 2018), he also expressed his desire to become school president. Stanley/woodruff (provost now acting prez) got him fired for an incident of consensual dirty dancing between student and associate prof at an event he didn't attend. Board was forced to hire lawyers to investigate, but now won't release findings. Stanley was kicked out, Gupta hasn't been reinstated. Alumni are pulling donations.
detroit news article (buy a subs for this)
East Lansing — A Michigan State University alum and donor threatened Friday to stop giving money to the university over its handling of the forced resignation of former Broad College of Business Dean Sanjay Gupta and an investigative probe into the matter.
Students, faculty, alumni and community members have been calling on MSU's Board of Trustees to publicly release a report about the Gupta resignation by Los Angeles-based law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan from which the board heard preliminary findings during a Thursday closed work session.
The Detroit News reported Wednesday that the results of the report were expected only to be delivered verbally after some trustees expressed concerns that a written report could be leaked, obtained by the public through the Freedom of Information Act or increase legal fees. Some university community members said they are concerned the public might never find out the report's findings about then Provost Teresa Woodruff's decision to force Gupta's resignation as dean. Woodruff is now the interim president.
Nancy Vella, the retired managing director of private wealth for Deloitte, spoke out during the public comment session of Friday's Board of Trustees meeting and said university officials need to do more than pay lip service to being transparent.
"As a longtime supporter of the College of Business, I will no longer support the college and university unless the aforementioned matters are resolved," said Vella, who identifies herself as a Grosse Pointe resident on her LinkedIn page. "Although I am only one person, don't underestimate the power of the College of Business alumni. As business leaders, we will not stand idle."
Woodruff's decision to dismiss Gupta as dean is not being readily accepted by some influential donors to the business school clamoring for full disclosure of the Quinn Emanuel findings, according to letters obtained by The Detroit News and a source familiar with the situation.
"We respectfully request an update on the … conclusion of this investigation, and importantly, the plan for sharing the full written report with our board," wrote Todd Penegor, CEO of Wendy’s Co. and a member of the Broad College of Business' advisory board, in a Dec. 2 email to the trustees. He declined further comment.
Added the Broad school's Financial Markets Institute Board three days later: "We believe full transparency with all stakeholders is the appropriate and most effective response to this situation and will allow the university to move forward."
Vella's comments came during a Friday public comment session in which critics addressed the board.
After the meeting, board Chairwoman Dianne Byrum said the board heard a preliminary review from lawyers from Quinn Emaneul.
“They have not completed their work and, at this point in time, I cannot share what was discussed yesterday,” Byrum said.
Pressed about whether the board would be released the Quinn Emanuel report publicly, Byrum said, "The board still has a lot of deliberations to do, so I can't give you an affirmative answer on what next steps will be in time. It is still under deliberation by the board."
Gupta resigned as dean in August after he acknowledged that he failed to report a business school leader who allegedly got intoxicated at an end-of-the-year gala in April and acted inappropriately. Gupta learned of the alleged incident from two fellow deans who indicated that they had planned to report the incident to the university's Office of Institutional Equity for investigation. He didn't report it and lost the post he had held for seven years.
MSU's mandatory reporting policy requires all university employees to report instances of alleged sexual misconduct they become aware of in their official capacity. Gupta remains an accounting professor at MSU.
Some regarded the resignation as forced by Woodruff, especially since Gupta had made it known to her that he wanted to be president of the university. Woodruff was unanimously selected in late October by the board to become the interim president after President Samuel Stanley Jr. resigned earlier that month, saying he had "lost confidence" in the Board of Trustees after some of them had pushed for him to leave two years earlier than his contract provided over Title IX issues.
Others called the allegations about Woodruff "ridiculous" and said the university is working to strengthen its mandatory reporting policies, especially after the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
Board members issued a statement in October that said, in part, "Such a review is particularly important at this institution in light of Michigan State's long history with Title IX and the need for all of us — trustees, administrators, faculty, staff and students alike — to grasp the scope of mandatory reporting obligations and compliance with university processes and procedures whenever allegations of misconduct arise."
MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant has said trustee work sessions are routinely closed to the public because trustees do not make decisions in the session. Some portions of the meeting fall under attorney-client privilege, which exempts discussions from the Open Meetings Act.
TLDR for MSU sports - board is being shady enough with Stanley/Woodruff/Gupta incident the school's largest donors are backing away. READ: NIL could decrease
TLDR - board back Stanley and provost Woodruff to take control of school. Gupta is well liked by alumni, has been at the school doing great work for 15 years (including getting the largest grant ever from a donor in 2018), he also expressed his desire to become school president. Stanley/woodruff (provost now acting prez) got him fired for an incident of consensual dirty dancing between student and associate prof at an event he didn't attend. Board was forced to hire lawyers to investigate, but now won't release findings. Stanley was kicked out, Gupta hasn't been reinstated. Alumni are pulling donations.
detroit news article (buy a subs for this)
East Lansing — A Michigan State University alum and donor threatened Friday to stop giving money to the university over its handling of the forced resignation of former Broad College of Business Dean Sanjay Gupta and an investigative probe into the matter.
Students, faculty, alumni and community members have been calling on MSU's Board of Trustees to publicly release a report about the Gupta resignation by Los Angeles-based law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan from which the board heard preliminary findings during a Thursday closed work session.
The Detroit News reported Wednesday that the results of the report were expected only to be delivered verbally after some trustees expressed concerns that a written report could be leaked, obtained by the public through the Freedom of Information Act or increase legal fees. Some university community members said they are concerned the public might never find out the report's findings about then Provost Teresa Woodruff's decision to force Gupta's resignation as dean. Woodruff is now the interim president.
Nancy Vella, the retired managing director of private wealth for Deloitte, spoke out during the public comment session of Friday's Board of Trustees meeting and said university officials need to do more than pay lip service to being transparent.
"As a longtime supporter of the College of Business, I will no longer support the college and university unless the aforementioned matters are resolved," said Vella, who identifies herself as a Grosse Pointe resident on her LinkedIn page. "Although I am only one person, don't underestimate the power of the College of Business alumni. As business leaders, we will not stand idle."
Woodruff's decision to dismiss Gupta as dean is not being readily accepted by some influential donors to the business school clamoring for full disclosure of the Quinn Emanuel findings, according to letters obtained by The Detroit News and a source familiar with the situation.
"We respectfully request an update on the … conclusion of this investigation, and importantly, the plan for sharing the full written report with our board," wrote Todd Penegor, CEO of Wendy’s Co. and a member of the Broad College of Business' advisory board, in a Dec. 2 email to the trustees. He declined further comment.
Added the Broad school's Financial Markets Institute Board three days later: "We believe full transparency with all stakeholders is the appropriate and most effective response to this situation and will allow the university to move forward."
Vella's comments came during a Friday public comment session in which critics addressed the board.
After the meeting, board Chairwoman Dianne Byrum said the board heard a preliminary review from lawyers from Quinn Emaneul.
“They have not completed their work and, at this point in time, I cannot share what was discussed yesterday,” Byrum said.
Pressed about whether the board would be released the Quinn Emanuel report publicly, Byrum said, "The board still has a lot of deliberations to do, so I can't give you an affirmative answer on what next steps will be in time. It is still under deliberation by the board."
Gupta resigned as dean in August after he acknowledged that he failed to report a business school leader who allegedly got intoxicated at an end-of-the-year gala in April and acted inappropriately. Gupta learned of the alleged incident from two fellow deans who indicated that they had planned to report the incident to the university's Office of Institutional Equity for investigation. He didn't report it and lost the post he had held for seven years.
MSU's mandatory reporting policy requires all university employees to report instances of alleged sexual misconduct they become aware of in their official capacity. Gupta remains an accounting professor at MSU.
Some regarded the resignation as forced by Woodruff, especially since Gupta had made it known to her that he wanted to be president of the university. Woodruff was unanimously selected in late October by the board to become the interim president after President Samuel Stanley Jr. resigned earlier that month, saying he had "lost confidence" in the Board of Trustees after some of them had pushed for him to leave two years earlier than his contract provided over Title IX issues.
Others called the allegations about Woodruff "ridiculous" and said the university is working to strengthen its mandatory reporting policies, especially after the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
Board members issued a statement in October that said, in part, "Such a review is particularly important at this institution in light of Michigan State's long history with Title IX and the need for all of us — trustees, administrators, faculty, staff and students alike — to grasp the scope of mandatory reporting obligations and compliance with university processes and procedures whenever allegations of misconduct arise."
MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant has said trustee work sessions are routinely closed to the public because trustees do not make decisions in the session. Some portions of the meeting fall under attorney-client privilege, which exempts discussions from the Open Meetings Act.
