The NCAA has opened an investigation into Michigan State University’s handling of sexual abuse allegations against sports doctor Larry Nassar.
Nassar has pleaded guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct and admitted to sexually assaulting young girls when he treated campus athletes and members of the USA Gymnastics.
The NCAA said it’s looking into whether the university violated any rules, but declined to provide additional details.
“The NCAA has sent a letter of inquiry to Michigan State University regarding potential NCAA rules violations related to the assaults Larry Nassar perpetrated against girls and young women, including some student-athletes at Michigan State,” the NCAA said in a statement.
Jason Cody, a spokesman for Michigan State, said the university is reviewing the letter for a response.
More than 100 young women have faced Nassar in court as he awaits his sentence.
University president, Lou Anna Simon, has recently come under fire for what critics say is mishandling of the scandal. Nassar was employed as a university sports physician from 1997 to 2016.
Several victims said they reported Nassar’s behavior to the university years ago, but that they were either silenced or officials did nothing to end the abuse.
Michigan State maintains no official believed Nassar committed sexual abuse until newspapers began reporting on the allegations during the summer of 2016. Any suggestion that the university engaged in a cover-up is “simply false,” the university said in a statement.
Simon has expressed support for the women who’ve spoken out against Nassar, but said she has no plans to step down from the position she has held since January 2005.
Besides questions about Michigan State’s handling of complaints against the serial molester, the scandal has had repercussions for USA Gymnastics, which also employed him. That organization on Monday announced resignations from its board of directors’ executive leadership.
Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina is expected to announce Nassar’s sentence. He faces 40 to 125 years in prison after pleading guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct in Ingham County, Michigan.
He has already been sentenced to 60 years in prison for federal child pornography charges and has pleaded guilty to three charges of criminal sexual conduct in Eaton County, Michigan.