OTHER SCHOOLS: John U. Bacon on Dr. Anderson and Larry Nassar

Dr. Green and White · Jun 16, 2021

I hesitate to start another thread on this topic, but I was curious what our old friend John U. Bacon was thinking about the current news out of Ann Arbor. Based on his previous comments about MSU and the actions of University of Michigan alumnus, Larry Nassar, I was curious if he was applying the same "logic" to the current situation. I think that it is best to simply let Bacon's words speak for themselves.

First, I would like to share the opening paragraphs from Chapter 28, "Bad Blood" in his 2018 book Overtime. For reference a screen capture of the actual book can be viewed here. I have highlighted some of the sections that I found the most interesting:

When reformers turn their attention to college athletics, they invariably insist the key is to take power from the athletic departments and give it to the trustees, the presidents, and the executive officers. But time and gain we see these leaders do no better, and often far worse…

[It is] painful to see Michigan State’s reputation forever tarnish by Larry Nassar, a team doctor who pled guilty to sexually assaulting ten girls and young women. His victims actually numbering in the hundred, many of them athletes at Michigan State University.

It’s worth noting that the Michigan State students, faculty, alumni all “got it.” They were outraged, demanding accountability and real reforms to make sure this never happened again. Is was the leaders who failed so badly.

So where were the adults? The Detroit News reported Nassar’s victims told at least 14 Michigan State employees about his abuse, yet they proceeded to do little or nothing about it…

“Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of more than 300 young gymnasts is a crime, not a scandal,” wrote Jenn Glass, author the The Women’s War, in the March 2019 issue of The Atlantic. “But the massive; the length of time it went on; and the number of adults who made excuses, ignored complaints, and chose to protect institutions instead of gymnasts? That’s the biggest sports scandal ever.”

An unpleasant lesson had been relearned. These great state universities were set up for the express purpose of developing young adults, and on the grand scale have done a remarkable job. Yet, when conflicts arise the first victims are often the very students the schools is supposed to be developing, and the enablers are too often the very people charged with protecting them.

Nassar’s sins wouldn’t affect the football game between Michigan and Michigan State, of course, but the leadership surrounding Michigan State athletics would. Every team has players who go astray, including Michigan’s. The question is how the program leaders respond when that happens.

Sparked by the Naasar scandal, in January 2018 ESPN’s Outside the Lines investigated the university’s inactivity to complaints by women. OTL reported that, since Michigan State named Mark Dantonio the head coach in 2007, at least 16 members of the Michigan State football team had been accused of sexual assault or violence against women. It’s hard not to conclude that the same leadership that made Nassar possible enable football.

Now, let's fast forward to 2021. Here is an excerpt from John's blog post on the Dr. Anderson scandal, which can be viewed here.

Questions remain over who knew what, and when. Four survivors told Schembechler about Dr. Anderson’s odd physicals – more than enough to raise red flags.

These recollections are hard for me to read because they run counter to the Schembechler I knew, who consistently made the welfare of his athletes his top priority. One example: he refused to sign endorsement deals with helmet companies, because he feared it would force the team to use an inferior helmet.

Likewise, in a cruel irony, Don Canham set up one of the nation’s first in-house medical units for student-athletes. It cost more, but he was proud of it because it would provide quicker, better care for Michigan’s athletes. Of course, it was in that unit that Dr. Anderson abused hundreds of athletes.

It is impossible for me to believe neither man knew about Dr. Anderson’s abuse. It is equally hard for me to believe that they didn’t do anything about it. But one of the few things we can say with certainty is this: whatever Canham and Bo did in response, it clearly wasn’t enough to stop the abuse, which continued for decades.

There’s no ignoring the hardest fact: this was a gigantic systemic failure of the entire university, and Canham and Bo were part of that.

The era they worked in is not an excuse, but it is a factor. Few hospitals, schools, camps, or churches at the time effectively acted to stop such abuse. Now they all handle abuse differently than they did four decades ago, and for good reason. But Dr. Martin Luther King’s words also ring true: “The time is always right, to do what is right.” The era may help explain their lack of response, but it doesn’t excuse it.

Does anyone see any differences in tone or message between the two situations?

SpartanDawg205 · Jun 16, 2021