Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Michigan State University alum, is still reviewing a request to remove two Democrats from the school’s board of trustees six months after officials made the request.
Whitmer press secretary Stacey LaRouche confirmed to the Lansing State Journal on Wednesday that the governor hasn’t yet made a decision on a request in March from the MSU board of trustees to remove trustees Rema Vassar and Dennis Denno.
In a text message to the Journal at the time, LaRouche said Whitmer’s office “will take the time to carefully review this request upon official receipt of the formal communication of the board” but did not offer a timeline.
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The request stems from a report by the law firm Miller & Chevalier that found Vassar and Denno offered ways for student groups to target MSU’s interim president, repeatedly violated the school’s code of ethics, and refused to cooperate with the firm’s investigation.
The report also criticized Vassar for accepting private jet flights and courtside basketball tickets for herself and her daughter from an MSU donor angling to do business with the university, WXYZ reports.
Vassar and Denno, along with trustee Brianna Scott who exposed their misdeeds, were censured by the board during a March 3 meeting, when Vassar resigned as board chair. That video meeting also sparked another investigation that found Vassar flipped her colleagues the bird as they discussed the move to censure her and request Whitmer remove her from office.
Both Vassar and Denno have disputed the findings of the Miller & Chevalier investigation, which was paid for by MSU, through attorneys paid for by MSU.
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“I will accept a censure but contest any other form of punishment,” Denno wrote in an email to the Journal. “What has been proposed is overly-punitive in nature.”
Trustees at MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State Universities are elected by a statewide vote, while their counterparts at other public universities are appointed by the governor. Whitmer is the only person with the power to remove trustees “for gross neglect of duty or for corrupt conduct in office, or any other misfeasance,” according to state law.
When Scott accused Vassar of bullying and misconduct in October 2023, Whitmer told the media she’s “taking it very seriously.”
“I think the allegations, if accurate, amount to a serious breach of conduct in what we expect of our board members and … the oath that they took,” she said, according to the Journal.
Whitmer previously condemned the current system of electing trustees to govern the state’s largest public universities.
“I think that the failure of leadership at Michigan State University is undeniable. And it’s not limited to the board, but I do think that the board is a part of it,” Whitmer said. “The way that we create the board of regents, or governors or trustees doesn’t make a whole lot of sense anymore, because I don’t think it works very well.”
Vulcan Republican state Sen. Ed McBroom introduced a resolution a year ago calling for a constitutional amendment to shift trustees at MSU, U-M and Wayne State to gubernatorial appointments, with the advice and consent of the senate.
Senate Joint Resolution E was referred in September 2023 to the Senate Committee on Government Operations, where legislation often goes to die.