EAST LANSING, Mich. — FOX 47 News was at Thursdays emergency board meeting when the trustees accepted the resignation for John Engler as interim president. It sparked some emotions from the community.
When the new acting president was named, there was applause and cheer. However, not very much cheer for how his predecessor left.
"My first reaction was wow Engler is leaving. My second reaction is perhaps he should've been fired," Andaluna Borclia, an MSU faculty member and member of Reclaim MSU.
John Engler's reign of terror is over, MSU trustee Brian Mossallam said after the board unanimously accepted the former president's 11-page resignation letter.
"I can finally take that sigh of relief, and this big weight lifted off my shoulders. It brought me to tears actually," said Kaylee Lorincz, a Larry Nassar survivor.
Those tears were accompanied by a feeling of annoyance because Engler was able to have a say in when and how he was leaving.
"He's a coward and we all know that. I' know he's there for a funeral and he's going and I'm sorry...he resigned and he wanted to be on his own terms and he wanted it to seem like it was on his own terms with his 11-page resignation letter," said Lorincz.
Survivors of the MSU sports doctor Larry Nassar and members of the MSU community said Engler's damage is done, now it's time to move on.
"It's been a really difficult time with him as interim president. He hasn't helped with the healing process, so it wasn't so much a feeling of joy as a relief that we can start to work on important things and start to change the culture," said Anna Pegler-Gordon, an MSU faculty member and member of Reclaim MSU.
