Nassar sentencing only a start

The following is an excerpt from an editorial in the New York Times.

Any doubts that monsters can be real were put to rest by the more than150 brave women and girls who told a Michigan judge over seven days how Dr. Larry Nassar molested them in the guise of treating them. Some of the abuse, which went on for decades, started when they were as young as 6. When Nassar committed his crimes, he was working as a doctor for the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team, for Michigan State University, for USA Gymnastics and elsewhere.

As agonizingly recounted during a sentencing hearing, several girls over the years turned to one authority or another for help, and received none. Adults who suspect a predator is on the prowl and do nothing are simply monsters in another form.

Nassar pleaded guilty to sexually molesting seven young athletes. Judge Rosemarie Aquilina guaranteed on Wednesday that he would never again be free, after sentencing him to 40 to 175 years in prison.

But he is not the only one who deserves to be called to account. An investigation commissioned by USA Gymnastics and released last year found that its board repeatedly turned a blind eye to Nassar’s abuses. An investigative series by the Indianapolis Star found that the organization had covered up accusations of abuses by many coaches, not just Nassar. Three key board members, including the chairman, Paul Parilla, resigned on Monday.

That’s a start, but it’s not enough. The U.S. Olympic Committee said it is considering decertifying USA Gymnastics, but the Olympic committee was also slow to act in the Nassar case.

The resignation on Wednesday of Lou Anna Simon, the president of Michigan State, where Nassar’s medical practice was based, was overdue. Though Michigan State has denied covering up Nassar’s crimes, reporting by the Detroit News found that 14 university officials were told of Nassar’s sexual misconduct in the two decades before he was arrested.