How could state Rep. Hank Vaupel — who represents me in Lansing — vote against the recent symbolic resolution asking the Michigan State University Board of Trustees to fire President Lou Anna Simon if she didn’t resign in the wake of the biggest collegiate sports scandal of all time?
The resolution — a big, no-brainer, PR resolution that came down on the side of sexual assault victims — passed with a hugely non-partisan vote of 96-11.
But Vaupel, a Handy Township Republican, was one of the 11 legislators to vote against it.
So, who’s should answer for the burning circle of hell created by Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics sports physician Larry Nassar?
Nassar, who pleaded guilty to seven sexual assaults, was sentenced 40-175 years in prison last week amid a thundering drumbeat for MSU President Lou Anna Simon to resign.
Students, faculty, alumni, a horrified public, newspapers, all called for Simon’s resignation.
Then Michigan’s Legislature weighed in with a non-binding resolution urging the MSU board of trustees to fire Simon if she didn’t resign.
The resolution spoke volumes despite lacking any legal teeth. The vote came just after 156 Nassar victims finished telling their heart-shredding stories in court, and a few hours before Simon actually did the right thing and resigned.
That resolution on the part of the Legislature was purely symbolic; it was a huge, public gesture of support for Nassar’s victims, as well as a slap at Simon and the drivers of the rarified wagons circling her.
Livingston County’s two state reps came down on opposite sides of the resolution. State Rep. Lana Theis, who is running for state senate this year, supported it, while Vaupel, who is running for re-election to the state house this year, voted against it.
“How could he?” I thought first, before wondering how long it would be for a “Tank Hank” campaign to begin, based on this vote.
Vaupel said his vote against the “unnecessary” resolution was the hardest he’s ever taken.
“I agreed (Simon) should resign, but I didn’t think we should demand her resignation without due process,” he said. “There’s no way she could’ve and should’ve stayed on. I feel the same way about the (MSU) board of trustees.
“But until there’s documented proof, I don’t think the Legislature should come out and demand a resignation.”
Vaupel’s vote is confounding. I find myself wondering how much “documented” proof Vaupel needed to come down on the side of victims with this vote on these crimes that happened practically in his backyard?
Were not the statements of those 156 victims enough? How about Nassar pleading guilty to seven counts of sexual assault, for goodness sakes? Did it not strike Vaupel as outrageous that university officials didn’t investigate or follow through on complaints? That this happened on Simon’s watch?
The trail of tears left in Nassar’s wake over the past two decades is gobsmackingly huge. Who should be held responsible for all of that?
Whose head should roll?
“My vote had nothing to do in any way, shape or form with relieving responsibility from MSU leadership,” Vaupel said, adding that Michigan State University handled the situation “poorly,” as did Simon with her resignation: “She should’ve shown more empathy and sympathy.”
During our conversation, Vaupel also said: “The young ladies weren’t protected”; “Larry Nassar was a monster”; and, “This went on for decades.”
Which, I argue, is precisely the point of the outrage that spurred the resolution.
And it’s precisely why Vaupel’s vote on it remains so confounding.
Maria Stuart serves on the board of directors of LACASA, the organization in Livingston County that works with the victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse.
