Some Penn Staters argue that the media is ignoring Michigan State's sex scandal

… this involved gymnastics

The Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse case at Penn State rocked the nation more than five years ago, and it continues to reverberate in Pa.

However, some Penn Staters seem to be pleased that another Big Ten school is embroiled in its own sex abuse case. They even think that this is much worse than the Sandusky situation ever was.

They blame the media for ignoring the Michigan State case.

Without getting into which is worse, I started to investigate what was taking place in Lansing, Michigan. Indeed, there is a scandal there -- but it is much different from the one at PSU.

Dr. Larry Nasser

The Michigan State case involves a physician named Dr. Larry Nassar, a doctor of osteopathy who had been a team physician at MSU for the past 20 years.

Nassar has been a towering figure in the gymnastics community, serving as team physician for four USA Olympic gymnastic teams.

The scandal involves more than MSU. It also involves USA Gymnastics, which is located in Indianapolis. USA Gymnastics (USAG) is the organization that governs gymnastics in the United States. It is responsible for "selecting and training national teams for the national teams for the Olympic Games and World Championships," according to its website.

Indianapolis Star

Beginning last August, the Indianapolis Star ran a series of stories about how rampart sexual abuse of young gymnasts was in the United States. It focused primarily on coaches, but Nassar was the team physician for the organization for many years. He was accused of sexual abuse of some gymnasts in a Sept. story, and since then, 60 complaints have been filed against him.

These did not all take place at Michigan State, but some of them did. The scandal resulted in his being suspended and then fired by MSU after it learned of the abuse in August.

The Star reported in September, "Two former gymnasts, one an Olympic medalist, have accused a prominent, longtime team physician for USA Gymnastics of sexual abuse. One of the women filed a civil lawsuit Thursday in California that was released Monday. The other filed a complaint two weeks ago with police in Michigan."

These events took place in the 1990s and 2000s, so there appears to be somewhat of a coverup, like the Sandusky case.

In the Sandusky case, the former Penn State defensive coordinator for Coach Joe Paterno was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse, the most egregious of which took place in 2001 but was not reported publicly until the indictment was issued in Nov. 2011.

Sandusky was investigated by university police for abuse in 1998, and charges released last summer in another suit indicated that Penn State may have known about it long before that since some allegations went back to 1976.

Michigan State suit

The first suit that involved Michigan State centered around a young gymnast who was only 15 when the alleged abuse was said to have occurred. According to the Star Sept. story, "[Rachael] Denhollander filed a criminal complaint against Nassar two weeks ago with Michigan State University Police, alleging the doctor sexually assaulted her when she received treatment for lower back pain as a 15-year-old club-level gymnast in 2000. University officials confirmed that police are conducting a criminal investigation.

"She said Nassar gradually became more abusive over five treatments, massaging her genitals, penetrating her vagina and anus with his finger and thumb and unhooking her bra and massaging her breasts. She said she also relayed those details to police."

Nassar has said that he has used trans vaginal procedures, but that they are all medically permissible.

Gymnastics are big business in U.S.

One difference between the PSU and MSU cases is the obvious difference in sports. Football is certainly much more high-profile than gymnastics is. However, gymnastics is very big in the U.S., particularly women's gymnastics. That is why the USAG is such a powerful organization.

So, why would a young woman put up with this kind of abuse? “I was terrified,” Denhollander told the Star. “I was ashamed. I was very embarrassed. And I was very confused, trying to reconcile what was happening with the person he was supposed to be. He’s this famous doctor. He’s trusted by my friends. He’s trusted by these other gymnasts. How could he reach this position in the medical profession, how could he reach this kind of prominence and stature if this is who he is?”

Nassar background

The Star indicated that Nassar was highly regarded by people in the gymnastics organizations because of his success. "USA Gymnastics President Steve Penney once praised Nassar as being 'instrumental to the success of USA Gymnastics at many levels, both on and off the field of play'.” the Sept. story noted.

It also pointed out that Nassar was instrumental in the winning of a gold medal for Kerri Strug in the 1996 Olympic Games when he treated an injured ankle that threatened to end her quest for the medal.

Nassar was a faculty member at MSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine. He had been the team physician for the Spartans gymnastics for 20 years before being fired last year.

Other charges

After the first allegations emerged last summer, criminal charges were filed against Nassar in two other cases unrelated to Michigan State. Two of these were federal child pornography charges as authorities found more than 30,000 photos or files on his computer. The other involved three charges of first-degree criminal sexual sexual conduct with a person under 13, according to the Lansing State Journal.

The second involved a young woman who was abused in Nassar's home in Holt, Michigan. That charge includes a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Michigan State scandal is real

So, the sex scandal at Michigan is a serious one, and it is much too early to tell how much damage has been done to the university.

Will the damage amount to a quarter of a billion dollars to the school, like the Sandusky case did to PSU? That seems unlikely at this time, but it is too early to tell.

Much of the damage done by Nassar appears to be with USA Gymnastics. They are being sued by many people since these stories broke, most alleging that they knew, or should have known, of the abuse by coaches and Nassar.

Media coverage

Has the media covered the Michigan State story? Yes, but it has not received as much as Sandusky did. Part of that was the shock of young boys being assaulted by a famous defensive coordinator in a high-profile football program.

The other reason that Michigan State has not received as much publicity is that gymnastics is just not as high profile as football.

Nassar removed by USAG in 2015, did not tell anybody why

The USAG has plenty of problems on its hands. It learned about the alleged abuse by Nassar in 2015 and allowed him to resign before the 2016 Olympics.

However, they did not tell anyone about why he was removed from the job. That included Michigan State, which had a complaint filed against him by a former student in 2014.

In short, both MSU and USAG are in big trouble over the Nassar situation.