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The muck at Michigan State just became deeper.

A newly surfaced email from university leader John Engler disparages Rachel Denhollander, who was instrumental in exposing Larry Nasser abuses of her and others.


Rachel Denhollander, right "is likely to get [a] kickback from [her attorney] for her role in the trial lawyer manipulation," suggests MSU interim leader John Engler.

Detroit Free Press coverage by David Jesse begins starkly:

Michigan State interim President John Engler, in a private email to a top adviser, accused a prominent survivor of Dr. Larry Nassar — Rachael Denhollander — of likely getting kickbacks from the trial attorneys involved in lawsuits against the school.

Denhollander, the first Nassar survivor to go public with allegations of sexual abuse by the former MSU doctor, responds in a six-tweet thread that begins:

Engler is so used to focusing on money and power, bullying and manipulating, he can't conceive that I would do what I've done because it's RIGHT, not because I'm getting something from it. I truly pity him. What a sad way to live.

She adds: "Attacking us personally . . . is the culture of abuse."

Condemnation also comes from MSU trustee Dianne Byrum, who calls Engler's comment "completely unacceptable and tone deaf." In a statement tweeted by Kim Kozlowski of The Detroit News, Byrum adds:

"He should publicly apologize immediately and denounce these insensitive comments.

"We need to be focused on culture change at MSU and allow the healing process to begin and statements like these from Interim President Engler and his advisors are hurtful, counterproductive and unnecessary." 

In a set of April emails obtained by the Freep and earlier by the Chronicle of Higher Education via a Freedom of Information Act request, top Engler aide Carol Viventi "accused  MSU board member Brian Mossallam of not doing a good enough job of protecting Engler," Jesse writes.

Mosallam, a past MSU football player, now questions Engler's effectiveness.

"I think Engler needs to think long and hard whether he is the right person for this job," he told the Free Press.

"Rachael Denhollander is an inspiration for her courage and bravery to speak up and the example of leadership that Engler should follow rather than criticize out of jealousy and spite. The idea that any human being, let alone the university's interim president, would question their motives or intentions, lacks empathy but more startling, dignity.

"I have serious concerns about MSU's ability to turn the page while Engler remains the university's interim president and strong reservations about whether he should continue in that role." 

Here's what Engler says, in part, in a Sunday morning message to Viventi on April 15:

"The survivors now are being manipulated by trial lawyers who in the end will each get millions of dollars more than any of [sic] individual survivors with the exception of Denhollander who is likely to get [sic] kickback from Manley [sic] for her role in the trial lawyer manipulation."

The email continued: "It is too bad we can’t have a debate about who is really trying to help those who were harmed by Nassar. . . . It will be years before the use and abuse by trial lawyers point is understood."

His reference is to John Manley, Denhollander’s lawyer.

In her Twitter thread Wedsnesday afternoon, Denhollander also says:

Engler and Viventi truly think victims who speak up and seek justice are manipulating for personal gain. They are incapable of understanding the impact of sexual assault, bringing accountability, or creating a safe culture for survivors to speak up. . . .

Engler really thinks the other survivors are being manipulated and too foolish to realize it. Disgusting. These women have stood up to their abuser and abusive culture at great personal cost, because it was right. They have more strength than MSU leaders will ever have.

The Free Press includes this background:

Engler took over as interim president [Feb. 5] after Lou Anna Simon stepped down under extreme pressure over her handling of Nassar, including being in charge when he was cleared by an MSU investigation in 2014 of any wrong doing.

Nassar, the MSU doctor accused of molesting dozens of female students and athletes, has been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography charges and is in a maximum-security federal prison in Tucson, Ariz.  He also faces a 40- to 175-year sentence issued in Ingham County and a 40- to 125-year sentence from Eaton County for sexual assaults. 

A broadcast reporter in Detroit lobs this shot Thursday at the university's latest embarrassment:

Read more: Detroit Free Press