MSU president Teresa Woodruff: I and the board didn't know details of Tucker complaint until Sunday

EAST LANSING — Interim Michigan State University President Teresa Woodruff said she and members of the Board of Trustees didn't find out until Sunday morning the details that led to the nearly 10-month Title IX investigation of head football coach Mel Tucker.

And she didn't know who the complaint came from — Brenda Tracy, a prominent national advocate for sexual assault survivors — until late July, when the preliminary investigative report had been completed and submitted to the university. Even then, Woodruff said, she only learned Tracy's identity, not any of the details reported to the Title IX office.

"We knew there was an outside complainant," she said of what she and the board were told in December. "We knew it was not within the university. But we didn't know the nature of the complaint itself."

It wasn't until a USA TODAY story published on Sunday morning that Woodruff said she became aware of the specifics of what Tracy reported, that the previous year Tucker subjected her to unwanted phone sex.

Woodruff said the process, including the confidentiality of the complainant from the board and other university officials, followed the university's established protocols.

Woodruff said firing Tucker was among the possible responses university officials considered on Sunday after the story published.

Instead, the university decided to suspend Tucker without pay. Athletic Director Alan Haller made the ultimate decision, Woodruff said, adding she supports Haller's determination.

"This became a news story," she said. "It made it very difficult for Mr. Tucker to continue to conduct his work as a head coach because those allegations are now producing ... widespread attention. And that's, that's creating a lot of distraction and chaos within the university, which is certainly antithetical to the ability to lead young men and to run our program. This is part of the decision that was made on Sunday."

Woodruff's comments to the State Journal are her most expansive public comments since the Tucker investigation became public Sunday and questions have swirled about who in positions of power at MSU knew the extent of the Tucker allegations. Woodruff did not take questions in a brief news conference Sunday evening, but released a statement after she spoke to the State Journal on Monday afternoon.

Brenda Tracy filed complaint in December

Tracy reported the incident to MSU in late December.

The university, rather than using its own Title IX office, hired an outside Title IX attorney to investigate Tracy's case. The school has also hired a separate outside Title IX attorney to decide whether the evidence shows Tucker likely violated school rules.

Woodruff said both decisions were made within the Office of Civil Rights, which houses the Title IX office.

MSU hired Ann Arbor-based Title IX attorney Rebecca Leitman Veidlinger to investigate Tracy's complaint. She previously worked in Title IX offices for MSU and the University of Michigan, and has also investigated a case for the Lansing School District. Veidlinger spent about seven months investigating the allegation and producing a preliminary report.

In May, the university appointed Laura Rugless to lead the school's civil rights and Title IX education and compliance efforts, which has been under near constant criticism since the sexual assault reports about former doctor Larry Nassar became public in late 2016.

MSU gets investigation report in July

Veidlinger submitted her final 106-page report in July to the university's Office of Civil Rights.

The Office of the General Counsel at that time told Woodruff that Tracy was the complainant while briefing her on a number of legal matters facing the university, Woodruff said. MSU spokesperson Dan Olsen said the trustees were not told Tracy's name. Woodruff and the Board of Trustees reiterated that point in a statement late Monday night.

“The MSU Board of Trustees was notified in December 2022 that there was a complaint filed against Mel Tucker. The MSU Administration did not provide the Board details of the allegation or the identity of the claimant at any time during the ongoing investigation, following MSU protocol and best practices for RVSM-related cases. Further, the Board was advised that appropriate interim and personnel measures regarding Mel Tucker were put into place at that time. The Board found out greater details surrounding the case via the media stories breaking on Sept. 10.

“In accordance with state law, Trustees are provided final reports of Title IX and RVSM matters pertaining to employees once the entire case resolution and all appeals processes are completed. The investigation involving Mel Tucker is still ongoing.”

It's unclear who, specifically, within the Office of Civil Rights made the decision to hire outside attorneys to handle the investigation, and Woodruff said she does not know. Rugless did not join the university until July 1, according to an MSU statement. Rugless was Cornell University's associate vice president for the Office of Institutional Equity and Title IX since May 2021. She previously served as the university's Title IX coordinator from January 2020 to May 2021, according to her resume. She is also an attorney and a U.S. Army veteran.

It's unclear who in the Office of Civil Rights determined that Tucker did not need to be suspended in December, when the school learned of a complaint, or in late July, when the office had received Veidlinger's report, which contained Tracy's allegations and interviews from both Tracy and Tucker. Olsen could not immediately provide that information Monday.

Haller and university officials have said that interim measures regarding Tucker were put in place following the December report. Haller said that included Tucker having no contact with his accuser and the AD more closely monitoring Tucker's program.

The university held a news conference Sunday evening, the first public statements following the USA TODAY article, and provided few details on what university officials knew and when. Haller answered three questions and Woodruff none before a crowd of more than two dozen reporters.

A hearing is scheduled for October, at which the Title IX investigator will present their report; another outside attorney hired by the university will decide whether it’s likely that Tucker violated university policy. An official sanction or punishment could then follow that determination.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called for more information from MSU in a statement Monday evening, prior to the joint statement from the board and Woodruff.

“As a survivor, I’m shocked. As a Spartan, I’m disappointed. As Governor, I want answers. “I know the pain that so many feel when allegations like this come to light because I live it too. It’s retraumatizing. MSU holds a special place in so many of our hearts—which is what makes this hurt more.  “We deserve to know when the university knew about these allegations and why they made the decisions they did. We need to ensure that one of our state’s flagship universities, one that carries so much weight around the world, is learning from the past and not recreating it.   “Spartans, survivors, and Michiganders—we deserve better."

Whitmer appointed trustees Renee Knake Jefferson and Sandy Pierce to the board, to replace Nancy Schlichting and Pat O'Keefe. Schlichting, also appointed by Whitmer, quit the board over frustrations including a narrow vote against an outside investigation in cooperation with several Nassar survivors into what the school knew about Larry Nassar before he was exposed in an Indy Star story in 2016. O'Keefe resigned over frustrations over transparency, including how then-Provost Woodruff handled the forced resignation of popular Eli Broad College of Business Dean Sanjay Gupta.

USA Today reporter Kenny Jacoby contributed to this story.

Contact reporter Matt Mencarini at 517-377-1026 or mjmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattMencarini.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU president Teresa Woodruff says she didn't know details of Tucker