Michigan State University To Pay $4.5 Million Fine Over Larry Nassar Scandal

Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, seen at a sentencing hearing last year in Charlotte, Mich. On Thursday, the Department of Education fined the university $4.5 million for its response to Nassar's conduct while he was employed by the school.

By Colin Dwyer

September 05, 2019

Updated at 12:15 p.m. ET

The U.S. Department of Education has levied a $4.5 million fine against Michigan State University for its "systemic failure" to address the sexual abuse committed by Larry Nassar, the MSU and USA Gymnastics doctor who admitted to sexually assaulting his patients for decades.

The fine that was announced Thursday came after two investigations ordered by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

"What happened at Michigan State University was abhorrent," DeVos said on a call with reporters Thursday. "The crimes for which Larry Nassar and [former Michigan State dean] William Strampel have been convicted are disgusting and unimaginable. So, too, was the university's response to their crimes. This must not happen again — there or anywhere else."

Last year Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for abusing dozens of girls and young women under the guise of providing medical treatment. He was also hit with a separate sentence of up to 125 years for the abuse, and another 60-year federal prison term for child pornography.

Strampel led the university's college of osteopathic medicine during Nassar's tenure at the school. He, too, faces prison time for his role in the abuse scandal: In June, Stampel was convicted of two counts of willful neglect of duty and one count of felony misconduct for sexually harassing female students in his own right.