Report: Michigan State spent $500,000 of university's money to keep tabs on victims
Michigan State University reportedly paid a public relations firm more than half a million dollars to monitor the social media activities of disgraced former Olympic gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar’s victims, as well as journalists covering his sex abuse case.
Nassar, the former trainer for MSU and Team USA, has been accused of sexual assault by hundreds of of his former patients, many of whom were underage when he molested them. He was sentenced earlier this year to what amounts to life in prison.
According to the Lansing State Journal, MSU was billed $517,343 by Weber Shandwick, a public relations firm based in New York, for 1,440 hours of work done while the Nassar case was ongoing.
“The work, which also included collecting and evaluating news articles, had previously been done by members of Michigan State University’s Office of Communication and Brand Strategy, some of whom continued to do so in January,” the outlet reported.
Eighteen of the firm’s employees were involved in this work. Their rates range from $200 to $600 an hour. “Five of those employees billed MSU for more than $50,000, including one who billed for $96,900 and another who billed for $120,893,” according to the Journal.
An MSU spokesperson admitted that the firm provided “communications support,” but said that their work has since ended.
“As part of Weber Shandwick’s work providing communications counsel, the firm monitored media and social media conversations surrounding the university, which included posts from the survivors of the Larry Nassar case,” the spokesperson added.
The Lansing State Journal included in its story screenshots of emails between the firm and university officials. The emails show that MSU was attempting to keep tabs on how the Nassar scandal was being covered in the media, as well as what his alleged victims — including gold medal-winning Team USA gymnast Aly Raisman — were saying about it on social media.
“MSU continues to be negatively mentioned in connection with the victim impact statements and ESPN’s ‘Outside The Lines’ segment,” one of the emails reads, as pointed out by NPR.
“Conversation around the upcoming sentencing and MSU’s role in the matter continues to be driven by victims of Nassar, their families and regional journalists,” reads another message, which also pinpointed the number of retweets garnered by posts from Nassar’s victims and their family members.
“Aly Raisman tweeted that she will not be attending the sentencing because it is too traumatic for her, and her impact letter will be read in court (360 retweets; 6,000 likes),” the email continued.
The emails also mentioned by name reporters from outlets who were covering the scandal.
Earlier this month, meanwhile, PRWeek reported a law firm hired by MSU paid Weber Shandwick a $50,000 retainer to help them handle “PR and media-related concerns, according to the contract.”
The business relationship between MSU and Weber Shandwick reportedly lasted from December 2017 until March 2018.
In total, as of March 2, MSU has been billed nearly $10 million by law and consulting firms for work related to the Nassar sex abuse scandal.
The revelations regarding MSU’s alleged actions to keep tabs on victims and journalists come the same week that Nassar’s ex-boss at the university was arrested on charges of criminal sexual conduct.
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