MSU athletics official resigned in 2016 amid internal investigations

EAST LANSING - "Serious allegations" were raised against a former Michigan State University associate athletics director for communications in May 2016, just one month before he resigned after 20 years in his position.

The allegations against John Lewandowski were referred "to the appropriate University departments for further review and investigation," according to the memo Deputy Athletic Director Greg Ianni wrote to Lewandowski, which the State Journal obtained through a public records request.

Emily Guerrant, a university spokeswoman, declined to say what the allegations involved, except that the "internal investigations were not related to any sexual misconduct."

Details about the investigations and their findings remain unclear. The State Journal made a separate public records request for any internal investigations, audit reports or police reports involving Lewandowski. In its response, the university said “no internal investigations or audit reports exist.” It did acknowledge a police report involving Lewandowski, but refused to release the record, citing an exemption in the law for when releasing a record would constitute “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

Interim MSU President John Engler denied the State Journal’s appeal of the decision not to release the report.  

The Ingham County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said it never received a report from MSU police involving Lewandowski to review for charges.

Messages were left seeking comment from Lewandowski, who now works as director of athletic media relations at the University of Louisiana Monroe. Messages also were left seeking comment from Ianni, Mark Hollis, who retired as MSU’s athletic director earlier this year, and from Bill Beekman, the interim athletic director and vice president and secretary of the Board of Trustees.

MSU Police Chief Jim Dunlap declined to comment, citing the university’s decision not to release the police report.

Guerrant, the MSU spokeswoman, said in a statement that Lewandowski’s suspension was the result of an anonymous allegation and that no evidence of criminal wrongdoing was found.

"The allegation was immediately forwarded to appropriate campus offices for investigation and the Athletic Department staff cooperated fully with the investigation," she said. "While MSU does not comment on personnel investigations, we take all allegations of misconduct seriously."

She declined to comment further.

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According to the record in his personnel file, Lewandowski was suspended with pay on May 3. He was told that while suspended he was to be assigned no duties, could not be in Athletic Department offices or attend any events or functions.

Lewandowski resigned from his role at the university on June 10, 2016, in a letter to then Athletics Director Mark Hollis. The resignation was effective as of June 17, 2016, according to the letter. His contract was set to expire on June 30, 2016.

In the letter, Lewandowski told Hollis it had been "both an honor and a privilege to have served" in his position for 20 years, but that "the time has come to transition into the next stage of my professional career."

Four days after the date of his resignation letter, Ianni, who had supervised Lewandowski, sent him another memo.

"As agreed, the Athletic Department will be paying your COBRA benefits payments for up six months or you obtain health insurance elsewhere, whichever occurs first," Ianni wrote.

Guerrant confirmed that there were no other terms agreed to in Lewandowski’s departure.

The University of Louisiana Monroe announced on Aug. 18, 2017 that Lewandowski had started work there as the director of athletic media relations. Earlier that month, MSU said that Lewandowski’s contract had not been renewed.

A message was left seeking comment from the University of Louisiana Monroe.

Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattMencarini.