Topline
Former Michigan State University football coach Mel Tucker—who was fired last month following allegations that he harassed a rape survivor—was found to have broken the school’s sexual harassment policy in a formal investigation, according to a report from USA Today.
Mel Tucker, former head coach of the Michigan State Spartans, looks on before a game against the … [+]
Key Facts
The university said in a 73-page report Wednesday that a hearing officer found Tucker “harassed and exploited” Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor and activist, according to USA Today.
Last month, news broke that Tracy filed a Title IX complaint with the school in December accusing Tucker of making sexual comments about her and masturbating while on the phone with her in April 2022 after the pair had worked together.
The hearing officer also determined that months before the call, Tucker had made unwanted sexual advances toward Tracy, and “engaged in quid pro quo sexual harassment,” which ended their working together, according to the USA Today report.
Forbes has reached out to Michigan State University and a representative for Tucker for comment.
Key Background
Tracy and Tucker began working together at MSU in August 2021, when Tucker hired her to talk to the Spartan football team about her years-earlier gang rape by four athletes and ask the players to stand against sexual violence. Tracy is a prominent speaker and has used her experience to create an educational speaking program. She visited Michigan State athletes a total of three times in the last two years, according to USA Today, which first reported the investigation that led to Tucker’s firing. After Tracy filed the Title IX report, Tucker reportedly told the university’s attorney investigating the issue that the pair had phone sex as part of a “mutually consensual and intimate relationship.” The Title IX report alleged Tucker canceled a planned visit of Tracy’s after the call in which he masturbated, and Tracy said she believed a number of his comments to imply he would end her career if she said anything about what happened. The university suspended Tucker on September 10, and he was fired just over two weeks later, on September 27.
Contra
In a letter Tucker’s lawyers sent after he received notice of intent to terminate, they said he “did not engage in unprofessional or unethical behavior or ‘moral turpitude’ by any stretch of the imagination” and called the university’s findings “flimsy,” ESPN reported. His team described the situation as “a private relationship involving mutual flirting and one instance of consensual phone sex.”
What To Watch For
If he wants to dispute the school’s findings, Tucker can file an appeal within 10 days, according to MSU’s sexual harassment policy. Tucker can appeal on the grounds that “procedural irregularity” affected the outcome, new evidence could affect the outcome, the investigator was biased or the decision was “arbitrary and capricious.”
Further Reading
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/10/25/michigan-state-probe-determines-mel-tucker-sexually-harassed-accuser-report-says/