"Give Me a Number": The Role of Neoliberal Logics in Michigan State University's Responses to Sexual Violence

• In Event: 35.040 - It's On You, MSU: Critically Addressing Sexual Violence at Michigan State University and Beyond

Abstract

In spring 2018, Kaylee Lorincz, survivor of MSU doctor Larry Nassar’s abuse, shared details of a closed-door meeting with interim MSU president John Engler. In the meeting, Engler asked if Lorincz would take a check of $250,000. When Lorincz responded that her concerns with the university weren’t about money, Engler replied, “well, give me a number.” (Murdock, 2018).

MSU’s fixation with financial numbers inspires this paper. Engler is not the only institutional actor at MSU to be preoccupied with finances. I argue that such preoccupation, at its heart a manifestation of neoliberalism, exacerbated sexual violence at MSU, and now hampers the institution’s ability to fix its problems and move forward.

I examine MSU’s ongoing sexual violence crisis through the lens of neoliberal critique. Neoliberalism is an economic and political ideology characterized by a strong private market and a positive role of the state for crafting conditions to support that market (Harvey, 2005). In higher education, neoliberal ideology functions in many ways, including conceptualizing colleges primarily as preparing future workers, and positioning students as self-motivated entrepreneurs competing for finite resources (Olssen & Peters, 2005). I extend the work of Giroux and Giroux (2012), who argued that neoliberalization via athletic and corporate money exacerbated ongoing cover-ups of sexual violence at Penn State. My involvement as a member of the MSU community and attendance at protests, town halls, and other events has connected me with many institutional and individual statements and perspectives; these statements, along with the significant press on MSU’s sexual violence mishandling, make up the body of information I analyze here.

Guided by our session’s primary questions: how can we understand higher education institutions’ failed responses to sexual violence, and how can we move forward, I illuminate how fixation on the university’s corporate functioning and positioning of students as consumers and future workers hamper the humanistic work necessary to honor and heal survivors. For example, institutional leaders valued Nassar’s fame over allegations of sexual abuse, helping ensure his continued employment at the university. Put differently, it was worth more to the university to retain a famous doctor than to honor girls’ and women’s testimonies of sexual violence. Additionally, institutional leaders considered their challenges regarding sexual violence over when the university reached a $500 million settlement deal with survivors. Celebrating this as a chapter’s end ignored the ongoing culture of sexual violence that pervades life at MSU and beyond (see Gay, 2018) in favor of financial dimensions.

Revealing neoliberalism as an underlying ideology that fails to prevent sexual violence suggests the limitations of solutions which maintain neoliberal logics. A focus on finances risks erasure of human experience (see also Giroux & Giroux, 2012; Shahjahan, 2014), but meaningful solutions must center human experiences. Building off recommendations of MSU deans (Beauchamp et al., 2018) and my previous work on relationship violence (Author, XXXX), I argue that institutional actors must name neoliberal logics, and find ways to resist them to honor and heal survivors and the whole MSU community.

Author

• Robert L. Hill, Michigan State University