UC Riverside Chancellor Kim Wilcox, while serving as Michigan State University provost in 2010, allowed a dean accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women to continue in his post, the Detroit News reported.
William Strampel, then dean of MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, was arrested this week on charges of harassing, propositioning, sexually assaulting and soliciting pornographic videos of female students. The arrest came as part of a broader probe into MSU’s handling of complaints against former sports doctor Larry Nassar, whom Strampel supervised. Nassar was sentenced in January to up to 175 years in prison after more than 150 girls and young women, including some Olympic gymnasts, testified he sexually assaulted them under the guise of medical treatment over two decades.
Wilcox told the Los Angeles Times in January that he did not know about Nassar’s behavior while he served as MSU provost from 2005 to 2013. But the Detroit News reported this week that Wilcox did know that multiple people had complained that Strampel repeatedy made crude comments about women’s bodies, ogled their breasts and boasted about his sexual conquests. The complaints were made during Stampel’s 2010 performance review.
Nonetheless, according to a letter in the dean’s personnel file, Wilcox wrote he would allow Strampel to continue as dean.
In a brief interview Wednesday, Wilcox said he could not comment on why he allowed Strampel to continue in his job because of legal considerations. Later, in a statement to The Times, Wilcox said he was “appalled and saddened by the stories brought forward by the courageous women” about Nassar and Strampel.