3 days ago
Whitmer denies MSU request to remove Vassar, Denno despite misconduct findings
EAST LANSING — In a two-paragraph letter, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer put to rest 14-months of uncertainty about the future of two Michigan State University trustees found complicit of misconduct.
Whitmer in a May 30 letter declined the MSU board's request to remove trustees Rema Vassar, D-Detroit, and Dennis Denno, D-East Lansing, but claimed her decision should not be interpreted as 'condoning of the conduct' of either trustee.
Among other issues, Vassar was found by university investigators to have taken free tickets and flights, and Denno to have pressured consultants investigating MSU's response the 2023 mass shooting on campus to tone down criticisms of trustees' actions.
"The denial of the request by no means indicates a condoning of the conduct alleged in the referral," Whitmer's Deputy Legal Counsel Amy Lishinski wrote in a letter to MSU board Chair Kelly Tebay. "Rather, it only means that other considerations related to the Governor's removal authority weigh against removal under these circumstances at this time."
Stacey LaRouche, press secretary for Whitmer did not answer follow up questions about what these other considerations were and what conduct would warrant removal.
MSU spent more than $2 million for an investigation by the Washington D.C.-based law firm Miller & Chevalier that found that Vassar and Denno violated multiple codes of conduct and ethics and acted outside the boundaries of their roles.
Miller & Chevalier's investigation was sparked by a letter from Trustee Brianna Scott, D-Muskegon, to her fellow trustees and local media alleging 10 instances of misconduct by Vassar, who at the time chaired the MSU board. Miller & Chevalier found evidence to support some, but not all, of Scott's allegations.
The tone of Whitmer's letter lacked the strong words she used more than a year ago after the allegations surfaced, and before MSU's own investigation found that many of Scott's concerns had merit. Days after the allegations were made public, Whitmer called them "deeply concerning."
"I'm taking it very seriously," Whitmer said at the time. "I think the allegations, if accurate, amount to a serious breach of conduct in what we expect of our board members and ... the oath that they took."
Neither Vassar and Denno responded to a request for comment June 3.
MSU's investigation found that Vassar and Denno bullied and harassed former interim President Teresa Woodruff and then-Faculty Senate Chair Jack Lipton, leading to Lipton suing the trustees.
A federal judge last week dismissed the board and several trustees from that lawsuit, but said Lipton's claims against Vassar and Denno could proceed.
The investigation also found evidence Denno tried to get the consultants hired by the university who analyzed MSU's response to the mass shooting to change their findings after the report criticized the trustees' response.
Vassar also accepted courtside tickets and a private flight from a donor for her and her daughter to attend a basketball game.
Both trustees acted outside the authority of their roles, investigators found, as well as evidence that both Vassar and Denno attempted to "embarrass and unsettle" former Woodruff and attack Lipton.
Miller & Chevalier concluded its report with several recommendations, including that Vassar and Denno be censured and referred to Whitmer so she could consider removing them. The board followed both recommendations, and also censured Scott for making her allegations public.
Vassar and Denno have maintained that Miller & Chevalier's investigation was incomplete and misleading.
"I refute most of the allegations in the Miller & Chevalier (MC) report," Denno said in an email to the State Journal last year. "I will accept a censure but contest any other form of punishment. What has been proposed is overly-punitive in nature."
Through her attorneys, paid for by MSU, Vassar released a statement calling the report 'profoundly flawed.' She is involved in a dispute with the university over legal fees for attorneys MSU hired on her behalf.
Whitmer has the sole authority to remove the trustees as governor. MSU's trustees, along with the University of Michigan's Board of Regents and Wayne State University's Board of Governors, are the only college governing bodies whose members are elected in statewide elections in Michigan, and as elected officials the only person who can remove them is the governor.
In 2020 Vassar was elected with more than 2.3 million votes and in 2022, Denno was elected with about 1.9 million votes.
Eric Lupher, president of the Livonia-based nonprofit public affairs research organization Citizens Research Council, told the State Journal last year that a governor removing an elected official in Michigan was so rare there was no defined process.
The last high-profile effort to remove an elected official by a Michigan governor was over a decade ago, Lupher said. And the elected official in question, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, resigned before Gov. Jennifer Granholm could announce a decision.
Under the terms of their censure, Vassar and Denno were removed from all board committees and liaison positions. Those restrictions expired Dec. 31 and both sought and were granted seats on the board committee for academic affairs and the board committee on budget and finance in January.
The controversy for both is not over, however.
In a 17-page ruling dated May 28, U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou said Lipton presented facts supporting a claim for a First Amendment violation against Vassar and Denno as individuals.
Lipton has argued in court documents that Vassar and Denno encouraged students to attack him and label him a racist following comments he made after an Oct. 27, 2023, board meeting when he used the term "mob rule" to describe how Vassar chaired the meeting.
MSU's own investigation supported some of Lipton's claims in the suit.
"According to the amended complaint, Lipton's comment to the press about the October 27, 2023 BOT meeting was protected speech, and Vassar and Denno's subsequent conduct was retaliatory adverse action," Jarbou wrote. "Lipton has also demonstrated that Vassar will continue to retaliate against him for this speech, but he did not demonstrate the need for prospective relief from Denno."
Jarbou dismissed Lipton's claims against the rest of the board in the same ruling.
Here's the full letter from Lishinski to Tebay:
"Re: Removal Request
"Dear Chairperson Tebay,
"We have received the referral from the Board of Trustees dated March 3, 2024, of Trustee Rema Vassar and Trustee Dennis Denno for removal 'per MCL 168.293.' Because our office takes seriously any complaint regarding misconduct by public officials, we reviewed the request carefully.
'I am writing to notify you that the request has been denied. The denial of therequest by no means indicates a condoning of the conduct alleged in the it only means that other considerations related to the Governor's removalauthority weigh against removal under these circumstances at this time."
Sincerely,Amy LishinskiDeputy Legal Counsel
Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@ Follow her on X @sarahmatwood.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Whitmer denies MSU request to remove trustees Vassar, Denno
