EAST LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) — More than two months after the board of trustees selected Samuel Stanley Jr. to be the next president of Michgian State University, Stanley officially took office on Thursday, Aug. 1.
His taking office comes just two days after former president Lou Anna Simon, who resigned in January 2018 in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal, said she was retiring, even as she faces criminal charges in the fallout of the Nassar case.
Stanley, a Harvard-trained doctor and medical researcher, has served as president of Stony Brook in Long Island for nearly 10 years.
On the heels of his hiring, there was backlash from students at Michigan State. According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are currently three open federal investigations into sexual assault at Stony Brook University.
Michigan State student-group, Reclaim MSU , responded to the hiring of Stanley in a statement saying students are "deeply disappointed" that the board chose a president without the "advice or consent of the MSU community as a whole."
“I am proud to join the Spartan community,” said Stanley. “MSU is a university with the scope and scale that few others possess. We provide extraordinary opportunities for learning, partnering and discovering solutions to prepare the next generation of citizens, scientists and leaders and to make a better Michigan and world.”
Stanley will serve as the university's first permanent president since the fallout from the Larry Nassar scandal.
Satish Udpa, the executive vice president of Administrative Services at MSU, was named interim president back in January after the resignation of Interim President John Engler. Engler was appointed in January 2018 after the resignation of President Lou Anna Simon.
Stanley will live at Cowles House once renovations are complete in early 2020.
