UNAC/UHCP Executive Vice President Charmaine Morales, RN, on MSU and Larry Nassar

January 2018

UNAC/UHCP Executive Vice President Charmaine Morales, RN, released the following statement regarding the sentencing of Larry Nassar.

“On Wednesday, Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State University (MSU) and USA gymnastics doctor who was accused of sexual abuse by over 150 young women, was sentenced to 40-175 years in jail. While Nassar faces more jail time beyond today's sentence and a previous 60-year term for child pornography, Michigan State has claimed their institutional response was sufficient because none of the accusers ever reported their allegations to the university police or Title IX officials.

“Let me be clear: Michigan State needs to finish cleaning house. President Lou Anna Simon has already resigned, but there were many administrators who ignored the problem. If you're hiding behind process when a moral crime of this magnitude has occurred at your university, at your facilities, to your students, you have no business educating young adults. No one can trust you to do the right thing.

“Newspaper accounts tell a harrowing story, with at least seven victims coming forward to share whom they specifically told, with zero impact. Every person who should have reported such sexual abuse to superiors at the time told the Detroit News last week that each could not remember being told of abuse.

“These are pathetic excuses. We as a country cannot allow this sort of abuse to occur on any school campus. While MSU school administrators may not be in legal jeopardy for what they've done, the least that MSU can do is to fire each and every person involved in what is essentially a cover up for a predator. That should quickly be followed by new guidelines that ensure a crime impacting 150 young women, their families, their future spouses, and/or their children, will never happen again at the East Lansing campus or any affiliated facility ever again.”

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United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) represents over 30,000 registered nurses and other health care professionals, including optometrists; pharmacists; physical, occupational and speech therapists; case managers; nurse midwives; social workers; clinical lab scientists; physician assistants and nurse practitioners. UNAC/UHCP is affiliated with the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO.

Contact: Jeff Rogers, Communications Specialist
Jeff.Rogers@unacuhcp.org | 909-263-7230