MSU Will Release Nassar Documents After Yearslong Fight: Reports

EAST LANSING, MI — Michigan State University board members on Friday approved releasing thousands of documents tied to the university's handling of their investigation into Larry Nassar, a former professor and doctor who sexually abused hundreds of young girls and women, according to multiple reports.

The Board of Trustees' unanimous vote comes years after survivors have lobbied for the documents to be released to help their healing. The university has withheld the documents based on an attorney-client privilege.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel called on the university earlier this year to release more than 6,000 documents to determine what the school knew about the abuse. She ended her investigation into the school's handling of the Nassar case in 2021, because the university refused to provide documents related to the scandal.

The documents will be redacted first before they are released to the public.

"The students, the MSU community at-large, and most importantly, the victims of Larry Nassar have long been owed this transparency. I am encouraged to see the MSU Board of Trustees finally make the right decision on a long-promised, and long-delayed, measure of transparency," Nessel said.

"We appreciate the opportunity to review these documents and will reopen and expedite our investigation as soon as they are received," she added.

The university settled multiple lawsuits brought by 332 victims of Larry Nassar for $500 million. The settlement included $425 million paid to current claimants and $75 million set aside in a trust for any future claimants alleging sexual abuse by Larry Nassar.

Nassar, 59, pleaded guilty in November 2017 to molesting multiple girls and women at his Michigan State University office, his home and a Lansing-area gymnastics club, often while their parents were in the room.

After he had already been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison for child pornography crimes, Nassar returned to court in January 2018, when a judge sentenced him to up to an additional 175 years behind bars.