EAST LANSING, Mich. – Interim Michigan State President John Engler was in the hot seat Thursday, answering tough questions about what the university is doing in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal.
In a wide-ranging Q&A session Thursday, Engler said the university dropped the ball and gave a critical progress report on where mediation talks stand with the victims. He also had new insight on what changes are being made moving forward.
About 90 percent of the chat with Engler focused on the Nassar saga, and Engler said even though it seems like more people knew about what was going on, he believes everyone involved is gone.
Engler also said the lawsuit against the university now includes 312 victims, and it's going to cost MSU a lot of money. Mediation will resume Monday.
He also discussed what Michigan State has done to prevent abuse such as Nassar's in the future. There are new procedures, including having chaperones in exam rooms.
There are also new billing rules. Many people didn't know what Nassar was doing because there wasn't a paper trail.
A report from Michigan State trustee Brian Mosallam outlined the changes he thinks are necessary at the university.
"Our typical response to allegations of wrongdoing is to simply state that this institution did no wrong.," Mosallam wrote. "I fundamentally disagree with this approach. We must admit failure when it happens. We must say sorry when we do wrong."
There was talk that because of the Nassar situation, enrollment might drop at MSU. But Engler said next school year they have the largest incoming freshmen class the university has ever had.
You can hear some of Engler's comments in the video posted above.