Former Governor John Engler spent his first day as interim president of Michigan State University dealing with campus controversy over the appointment.
The announcement comes a week after Lou Anna Simon stepped down. That was part of the fallout from a scandal about how the school handled complaints of sexual abuse by former sports doctor Larry Nassar.
The Board of Trustees unanimously supported the appointment. But students and faculty voiced opposition to the choice. Physiology professor Laura McCabe says the faculty wants to help change the culture of MSU to help stop sexual assaults.
“However, our initial efforts have been thwarted by a myopic and entrenched administrative structure," she said.
McCabe says Engler has no academic experience and is too political a choice. The MSU Faculty Senate has threatened a no-confidence vote.
