LOCAL

MSU trustee: 'I deeply regret' naming whistleblower in sex assault case

RJ Wolcott
Lansing State Journal
Mitch Lyons, a trustee at Michigan State University, addressed the board and members of the public Wednesday. He discussed how he came to say during a radio interview that Auston Robertson was the person who reported an alleged sexual assault back in January.

EAST LANSING - MSU Trustee Mitch Lyons said Wednesday he deeply regretted naming a former Spartan football player as the whistleblower who told football coach Mark Dantonio about an alleged sexual assault that took place in January.

Lyons’ statement, made during an MSU Board of Trustees meeting, came 15 days after he outed Auston Robertson as the person who told Dantonio about the incident back in January. In explaining how he came to utter Robertson's name during a radio interview, Lyons said he was discussing the multiple sexual assault cases involving MSU.

"I regret that any name was associated with that case. I absolutely 100 percent agree that we need to protect reporting individuals of sexual assault. I deeply regret having said any name in that situation, because again, it wasn’t relative to what I was doing, which was standing up for Coach D and how he handled what he learned from the assault," Lyons told his fellow trustees.

“In the course of my comments, I cross-pollinated one name who is involved with one of the cases with another case,” Lyons said, adding that his comment was made in the course of highlighting that Dantonio was “above reproach” in handling the investigation.

Related:

Michigan State trustee: Robertson alerted Dantonio about January sexual assault incident

Former MSU football players Josh King, Donnie Corley arraigned in East Lansing

A report commissioned by MSU found Dantonio "took prompt and appropriate action" after being informed of the situation. That report does not name Robertson as the player who came forward.

Lyons remarks during the June 6 radio interview: “When Auston Robertson came into his office for a regularly weekly meeting, Coach D asked him the regular questions he typically asks him, and then (Robertson) became a little emotional and didn’t even go into details. He alluded to the fact that something happened,” Lyons said. “And Coach D had a sense that it involved some sort of sexual allegation, and he immediately said, ‘Don’t say anything more.’”

One day after the radio interview, Lyons told MLive and the Detroit News that he misspoke and confused the multiple ongoing cases. During Wednesday's meeting, Lyons also said believed those who report sexual assault should be protected.

The three players who were involved in the January incident  — Josh King, Donnie Corley and Demetric Vance — were kicked off the team earlier this month. King is charged with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and a count of capturing an image of an unclothed person. Corley and Vance are both charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Robertson also was dismissed from the team on April 22 after being charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct stemming from an alleged sexual assault in Meridian Township on April 8. He is expected in East Lansing's 54B District Court on Thursday for a preliminary hearing on that charge.

Lyons' comments came after two fellow trustees – Brian Mosallam and Dianne Byrum – criticized him for naming Robertson as the whistleblower.

“A few weeks back, Trustee Lyons once again incited and inflamed the masses with an ill-advised comment," Mosallam said, adding that he felt it damaged the reputation of the university.

Mosallam also said he sent his fellow trustees an email Wednesday morning with links to more than a dozen news stories about Lyons past conduct. 

Back in January, referencing President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration, Lyons tweeted, “An "impediment to quality, connectivity, and inclusiveness" at MSU is a terrorist blowing himself up on campus. #SecureTheBorder.” Lyons issued a clarification the next day saying he didn’t mean to condemn any specific group and later apologized for the tweet.

Before addressing Lyons' radio comment, Byrum said she was dismayed to wake up Wednesday to a story from the Detroit Free Press, which discussed Lyon’s comment and the response to it among students and experts.

Amid turmoil, 'trust is faltering' at Michigan State University

“I must say to you, Trustee Lyons, that I believe your behavior has violated the trust and fiduciary responsibilities you hold as a trustee to this university,” Byrum said. “I have bit my tongue. I have not made a lot of public statements. I’ve had my conversations directly to you, but the time has passed that that is going to be the way I handle the situation.”

She ended her statement asking Lyons to apologize for his behavior.

“It is very disruptive and harmful to the university, to the administration and to every trustee.”

Lyons responded to Byrum's criticism with his remarks about regretting his comments on the radio.

Vice Chairman Joel Ferguson, the last to speak regarding Lyons, said trustees would do better to address talk to one another about issues rather than having it out in public.

Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.