Weidner's Words: A tipping point for Michigan State Athletics

The Larry Nassar case has been prominent in the news recently. Nassar, a former team physician for USA Gymnastics, as well as for Michigan State University (MSU), had been committing egregious and frequent acts of sexual assault and harassment from as early as 1990 up until recently, when these acts came to light. While his case has been tried and widely addressed, his years of abuse are made even worse by the knowledge that far too many times, people in positions of power looked the other way. Individuals within the Michigan State Athletics Department received complaints as far back as 1997.

The case has also placed a spotlight on the Michigan State Athletics Department as a whole, particularly on the school's football and men’s basketball teams.

When football coach Mark Dantonio was asked this past summer about current sexual assault accusations facing four of his players, he claimed, "This is new ground for us … it has not happened previously." Dantonio’s statement is blatantly false. Since he took control of the program in 2007, 16 of his players have reportedly been accused of sexual assault or violence.

Dantonio had control over discipline in at least one of these cases.

Men's basketball coach Tom Izzo has also had his own share of cases during his tenure. These include one case involving a former Michigan State player-turned-assistant coach, Travis Walton, who continued coaching after a case in which he was charged for punching a female MSU student in the face at a bar.Later, Walton and two other MSU men’s basketball players were accused of rape by another female student.Walton was fired that time, but the two players were reportedly not punished.Izzo has yet to issue any official public response to any of the allegations against his team.

Michigan State’s Athletic Department is in a precarious position, and it has a chance to take a strong stance. Athletic Director Mark Hollis' stepping down on Jan. 26 was a good first step.

The Michigan State administration should now place similar pressure on Izzo and Dantonio to leave as well. They are both important figureheads, representative of the entire MSU Athletic Department, and they are leaders of the school's two athletic programs with large numbers of unresolved sexual misconduct cases. The deeper investigation into their conduct has shown that Izzo and Dantonio have failed, in many instances, to take necessary action against players facing sexual misconduct allegations.

While their accused players haven't been convicted in a court of law, the argument for their departures should not be based on legal loopholes. Rather, it should focus on an unhealthy culture fostered by the men with institutional power continually looking the other way.

Despite losing accomplished coaches, Michigan State football and basketball would maintain their legacies through a change of staff. But if the university chooses to do nothing, it will only continue the pattern of negligence and inaction.