Lou Anna Simon, left, and Larry Nassar
(AP)
Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon resigned late Wednesday over criticism of the university’s handling of sexual abuse claims against former sports doctor Larry Nassar.
Simon resigned hours after Nassar was sentenced to between 40 and 175 years in prison for molesting women and girls while supposedly treating them for sports injuries.
In her resignation letter, Simon addressed the survivors of Nasser’s abuse, saying she was “so sorry that a trusted, renowned physician was really such an evil, evil person who inflicted such harm under the guise of medical treatment.”
Many of the victims accused the university of mishandling complaints about Nasser, some of which go back more than two decades.
Simon, who earned her doctorate at Michigan State in 1974, was promoted to school president in 2005. She wrote that she had planned to retire in December 2016, but “my transition was postponed” in the wake of the initial allegations against Nassar.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
