Cover up and collusion at Michigan State

The sex abuse scandal at Michigan State just keeps getting worse:

A Michigan State University dean who was Larry Nassar’s boss is accused of groping and propositioning medical students and collecting nude pictures of them on his work computer.

William Strampel, who was arrested Monday, is charged with fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, a high misdemeanor; felony official misconduct; two counts of willful neglect of duty, according to the special prosecutor running a wide-ranging investigation of MSU.

“Strampel used his office to harass, discriminate, demean, sexually proposition and sexually assault female students in violation of his statutory duty as a public office,” prosecutor Bill Forsyth said at a news conference, reading aloud from the criminal complaint.

“Strampel abused the authority of his public office, through threats and manipulation, to solicit, receive, and possess pornographic images of women who appear to be MSU students.” . . .

Strampel allegedly allowed [Larry] Nassar, who worked in the MSU clinic, to see patients while he was under investigation in 2014 and then failed to enforce treatment protocols after Nassar was cleared by a flawed investigation and allowed to practice again.

Authorities also noted that they found a video of Nassar performing his so-called treatment on Strampel’s work computer, which they seized Feb. 2 after getting a credible tip about the dean.

But the new revelations in the court documents focus on Strampel’s own behavior while he was dean of MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, some of which occurred even after Nassar was arrested and the university was rocked by scandal.

A police affidavit filed with the criminal complaint says that as recently as last June, during a meeting with a medical student over a test score, Strampel said a woman her age could “put out” for an old man and then also initiated a conversation about sending nude photos.

“[She] interpreted these statements as a request to send him nude photographs in exchange for special consideration with respect to her education at the College,” the affidavit said.

Police who seized his computer in February found 50 photos of “bare vaginas, nude and semi-nude women, sex toys and pornography,” they said. There were also pornographic videos and evidence that someone had tried to delete some of the material.

“Many of the photos are of what appear to be nude selfies of female MSU students, as evidenced by the MSU clothing and piercings featured in multiple photos,” the affidavit says.

The affidavit catalogs complaints from three other students.

One of them said that after she was summoned by Strampel for falling asleep in class in 2011, he told her she would never make it in the profession if she didn’t dress sexier. Two years later, when she met with him to discuss complaints about her residency, he allegedly had her turn around so he could look at her body and told her: “What do I have to do to teach you to be submissive and subordinate to men?”

At a scholarship dinner in 2014, as she posed for a picture with Strampel, the dean grabbed her buttock and squeezed it, she told police. A few months later at a luncheon, she asked him to stop looking at her body and he allegedly replied, “Eye candy is eye candy.”

Another student said that during a 2014 meeting to discuss an exam she failed, Strampel suggested she become a centerfold model and then agreed to let her retake it, she told police.

“In return, Strampel said, [she] would be required to do anything for him,” the affidavit said. “Given the context, [she] understood that she was being asked to do anything he wanted sexually in exchange for the favor.”

The third student told police Strampel told her in 2006 that “it was good when women were drunk because then it was easy to have sex with them.” Four years later, at a college dance, he allegedly approached her from behind and grabbed her buttock.

The MSU administration remains in full CYA “just a few bad apples” mode, with interim president John Engler taking whataboutism to hopefully unprecedented new heights:

The former Michigan governor blasted ESPN for its own problems with sexual assault cases, nearly two months after the network ran a story in the wake of the Larry Nassar sentencing detailing allegations into Izzo’s basketball program and Mark Dantonio’s football program.

“The 50,000 students on campus are going to class, and they want a safe environment. I think you have a safer environment today, and with the changes we are making, we’re making significant progress,” Engler told a small scrum of reporters. “That’s very much to the good and that response to the larger national debate that ESPN is wrapped up in.

“Look at the sexual assaults you guys are dealing with as a company. It’s pretty serious. In many ways, their company is one of the worst offenders in the nation. So we have a sexual assault challenge in America today. But for Michigan State, we’re dealing with it on our campus.”

A lot of people need to go to jail.