GRAND RAPIDS — Michigan State University called Brenda Tracy’s lawsuit against the school an effort to turn former football coach Mel Tucker’s firing “into her own multi-million-dollar windfall.”
Tracy, a prominent national advocate for sexual assault victims, filed her lawsuit in June and claimed, among other issues, that members of the school’s Board of Trustees leaked her name during what was supposed to be a confidential sexual harassment investigation of Tucker.
That investigation later determined that Tucker violated the school’s sexual harassment policy and exploited Tracy when he masturbated and made sexual comments without her consent during an April 2022 phone call. Tucker has denied any wrongdoing and said he and Tracy had a consensual relationship. However, Tracy reported the incident to MSU months later and the university fired him in September 2023. Tucker has since sued the university over his firing and the roughly the $80 million in guaranteed salary that remained on his contract.
The university also investigated Tracy’s claim that her name was leaked to the press by an MSU official, an investigation which cost the school at least $850,000. Attorneys from the law firm of Jones Day found no evidence that any MSU official or employee leaked her name.
Jones Day attorneys also wrote MSU’s motion to dismiss Tracy’s lawsuit, which they filed on Friday, Aug. 29 in federal court in Grand Rapids. The attorneys, in their filings, referred to Tracy’s lawsuit as a “kitchen-sink complaint” that invokes a wide range of claims she can’t prove, echoing a position the university took in Tucker’s lawsuit.
“On the one side, former football coach Mel Tucker claims that Michigan State University did too much,” the university’s attorneys wrote. “Now, on the other side, former football sexual misconduct trainer Brenda Tracy claims that the University did too little. The truth here lies in the middle: the University did what it was lawfully permitted to do when it fired Tucker for engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior with Tracy.”
The university asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit because it believes Tracy failed to bring a claim the court can rule on and because the school and trustees are protected by qualified immunity.
University spokesperson Amber McCann declined to comment, as did Karen Truszkowski, Tracy’s attorney.
Tracy filed her sexual harassment complaint against Tucker in November of 2022. The university hired an outside firm to investigate, an inquiry that went on for about nine months. Truszkowski eventually gave USA Today permission to publish a story about Tracy’s complaint in September 2023, by which time she and Tracy felt her name had been leaked and news stories were imminent.
Later that month, MSU Trustee Dianne Byrum called on the school to investigate claims that someone at the university leaked Tracy’s name. MSU hired Jones Day to look into the leak and the law firm’s report, released on Dec. 29, 2023, said it found no evidence any MSU official or employee had done so. However, only seven of the eight trustees agreed to be interviewed and turned over their cell phones for examination. Trustee Dennis Denno did not turn over his cell phone.
The university paid Jones Day almost $600,000 for its investigation, but also paid $250,000 to second law firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, to represent Trustee Rema Vassar.
In 2023, university investigators determined that Vassar and Denno committed misconduct in a separate inquires unrelated to Tracy’s complaint. Vassar took free tickets and flights. Denno pressured consultants investigating MSU’s response the 2023 mass shooting on campus to tone down criticisms of trustees’ actions. On May 30, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declined a request by MSU’s board to remove Vassar and Denno, a request that had been pending for more than a year.
In her lawsuit, Tracy accused Denno and Vassar of leaking confidential information to other MSU officials, donors and the media. She named both, along with the university’s board, as defendants.
Tracy’s lawsuit is seeking undisclosed amount for psychological and emotional distress, punitive damages and attorney fees; and a commitment by the board to take “effective steps to prevent sex-based discrimination and harassment, including sexual assault.”
Tucker’s federal lawsuit over his firing is ongoing. Tracy is also suing Tucker in Ingham County Circuit Court.
Contact reporter Matt Mencarini at mjmencarini@lsj.com.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU: Brenda Tracy using Tucker’s firing to get ‘multi-million-dollar windfall’
Yahoo News – Latest News & Headlines
Read the full article .
