Michigan State interim President Engler to testify before US Senate on Nassar scandal

Michigan State University interim President John Engler (WDIV)

EAST LANSING, Mich. – John Engler will testify later this month before a U.S. Senate panel as the investigation into former Michigan State University physician Larry Nassar's sex abuse scandal continues. 

Engler, who was appointed interim university president after longtime president Lou Anna Simon resigned, is set to testify July 24 before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Security.

Recommended Videos



Meanwhile, he is expected to hold on to his title for another year, as the school plans to name the next president by June 2019. The search committee will be formed in August, school officials said.

Engler said his focus during the next year will be to pave the way for a smooth transition.

Trustees Dianne Byrum and Melanie Foster are leading the search. They're focused on getting as much input as possible to form the search committee and determine what the next president needs to bring to the table, MSU said.

"Given what's happened, they have to be a good listener, obviously," Byrum said.

"I would add (that they need) to understand and to voice institutional integrity," Foster said.

Two faculty members and two students were at the meeting, demanding to know why people who hired the interim president should be trusted to hire the permanent one.

"You cannot equate the crisis this university was in in January to the long hiring process of the next president of the university," a faculty member said.


Recommended Videos