MSU president 'knew nothing' about staffer named in EMU rape scandal until after resignation
Mark Johnson
LANSING — Michigan State University's president said at a Friday news conference he was unaware of allegations against Melody Werner until 11 women sued her last month, despite an investigation launched by her former university last September.
Werner was hired to oversee MSU's Office of Institutional Equity in November 2019, three months after Samuel Stanley Jr. took over as president.
Before that, she was Title IX director at Eastern Michigan University from 2015 to 2019, where part of her job was to advise students who said they were sexually assaulted.
Eleven women are now suing EMU and Werner, saying the university covered up some 30 claims of sexual assault that occurred between 2015 and 2020, while they were students.
More:MSU employee named in EMU rape lawsuit earning $141K despite 'no assigned duties'
Those assaults have led to four arrests. In September 2020, EMU announced publicly that it had hired an outside firm to conduct an audit of the Title IX office Werner led there.
By then, Werner had been at MSU about 10 months. The same week as EMU's announcement, she resigned in a confidential agreement — obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request — that will keep her on the payroll through June 2021.
Werner and MSU officials have said the resignation had nothing to do with Werner’s time at EMU.
On Friday, Stanley said he had no knowledge of the allegations against Werner, nor the EMU Title IX office audit until last month.
“I knew nothing about it until it appeared in the media,” Stanley said.
Werner will remain an MSU employee through the spring with “no assigned duties” earning benefits and an annual salary of about $141,375, according to her resignation agreement.
'It was my personal decision to leave'
Werner's decision to resign from MSU had nothing to do with her time at EMU, she said in an emailed statement sent an hour after Stanley's Friday press conference.
“It was my personal decision to leave Michigan State University when I did. My first grandchild arrived in March 2020 and I was eager to be completely available,” Werner's statement read. “I had no knowledge about the lawsuit at Eastern Michigan University when I made the decision to leave.”
In an interview last month, Werner had also said she resigned because she didn’t like working from home and wanted to save the office money.
Her departure eliminated redundancy in the Office of Institutional Equity and created opportunities to streamline responsibilities within the unit, MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant added.
Werner received a temporary assignment through her resignation agreement, naming her “Director of Strategic Operations” for the Office for Civil Rights and Title IX compliance from Sept. 21, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021. She was given “no assigned duties” after Feb. 28.
Werner was hired by Robert Kent, who at the time was serving as interim associate vice president for MSU’s Office for Civil Rights and Title IX Education and Compliance.
In October 2019, "Kent recommended Dr. Melody Werner for hire to President Stanley," according to a search committee report also obtained in a FOIA request. "Dr. Werner met with (Stanley) by Zoom ... Stanley endorsed Dr. Werner's hire for the OIE Director position."
Kent left MSU in March 2020 for private law practice. Stanley replaced him with TanyaJachimiak.
Werner continues to deny the allegations levied against her in the lawsuit filed last month.
In the lawsuit, the women accused Werner of discouraging them from filing reports with the police or Title IX office and of attempting to cover up the assaults.
One woman said Werner told her there was “no point in reporting” her sexual assault because the men she accused of raping her were in a fraternity, according to the lawsuit. Werner told her the “Greek community is going to back them up,” the lawsuit stated.
“I categorically deny ever making statements of that nature to any individual reporting a sexual assault,” Werner’s Friday statement read. “My career as a Title IX professional has been dedicated to exactly the opposite – encouraging survivors to come forward and report what happened to them, and then to support them in any way possible.”
Contact Mark Johnson at 517-377-1026 or at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.