EAST LANSING — The investigation into whether Michigan State University trustees bullied each other and broke codes of ethics and conduct has surpassed the $2 million mark.
That’s in addition to the approximately $325,000 the university has paid so far to cover the legal fees of trustees during and after the investigation.
This investigation by the Washington D.C.-based law firm Miller & Chevalier ultimately found that former Board Chair Rema Vassar, D-Detroit, and Trustee Dennis Denno, D-East Lansing, had broken the board’s code of ethics and conduct.
The attorneys’ report recommended they be removed from board assignments and referred to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for potential removal from their elected positions. Miller & Chevalier also recommended that the two trustees, along with Trustee Brianna Scott, D-Muskegon, be censured.
In a special, late-night board meeting on March 3, the trustees voted to follow the report’s recommendations.
Scott’s public claims that Vassar was guilty of misconduct and acting outside the bounds of her authority sparked the investigation, but because she violated attorney-client privilege, the firm recommended she be censured but commended her for stepping forward.
The university is paying three law firms for the investigation, with Miller & Chevalier representing the university and two other firms providing legal counsel for Vassar and Denno.
The latest invoices obtained by the State Journal through a public records request are stamped as received by the MSU Office of the General Counsel on May 9. Miller & Chevalier billed the university $572,611 for work done in February.
Along with the roughly $1.4 million billed for work from Oct. 30 through Jan. 31, the investigation now totals $2,033,837.
So far, MSU has paid about $340,000 of its $2 million bill.
Vassar has retained outside counsel, paid for by the university, since December. For its work done through Feb. 29, the Rochester, Michigan-based Miller Law firm has billed the university $318,979.
The law firm has continued to represent Vassar since the report was released Feb. 28, and in March released a response to the investigation’s findings and called it “inaccurate,” “incomplete,” “flawed,” and lacking due process.
It isn’t clear whether the university is still paying for Vassar’s representation. MSU spokesperson Mark Bullion said who would be covering her legal fees was still being decided, and the trustees have not publicly discussed removing her legal representation.
MSU also paid Denno’s attorneys, with the Royal Oak-based attorneys Ahmad & Akbar, a $7,000 retainer fee but no other invoices were sent to the university regarding continued representation of Denno by the firm.
Contact Sarah Atwood at [email protected], or follow her on X @sarahmatwood
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU investigation into trustee misconduct, bullying passes $2 million
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