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Big games from Thorne, Coleman overshadowed by struggling defense

Redshirt junior quarterback Payton Thorne finally found his groove in Michigan State’s 39-28 loss to Washington. Despite the loss, he was more consistent, put his body on the line, wasn’t afraid to make big plays and even found a reliable target in sophomore wide receiver Keon Coleman.

Thorne threw for 323 yards and three touchdowns, two of which were caught by Coleman, who led MSU’s receivers with 116 yards. He stepped up big time in the absence of fifth-year wide receiver Jayden Reed who didn’t travel to Seattle due to injury.

In addition to Coleman, Thorne likes what he saw from redshirt junior wide receiver Tre Mosley and fifth-year tight end Daniel Barker.

“Between those three guys I thought we had a few guys step up today,” Thorne said. “It was good to see. I love those guys and they came to play today. They played hard and they played tough.”

The Spartans had to rely on Thorne and the passing game due to the team being unable to get the running game going. After a monster game against Akron, the running back duo of redshirt sophomore Jalen Berger and fifth-year Jarek Broussard were unable to get anything going against the Huskies, which is a real concern for MSU considering Washington’s rush defense did present a special threat heading into the game.

The inability to stop the Washington offense prohibited the slowly surging MSU offense from even taking the field.

But if MSU is looking for any sort of silver lining from Saturday’s disaster, it starts with Thorne and Coleman. Coleman again was Thorne’s go-to guy and has received a team-high 29 targets through three games. Both of the duo’s touchdowns Saturday night were highlight reel plays as the two got into a rhthym once Michigan State dug itself a 22-0 hole and many had already tuned out the game.

The Spartans will have to go back to the drawing board this week if they hope to bounce back from this loss and begin Big Ten play against a very good Minnesota team next Saturday.

Stanley: Trustees to blame for failure in Title IX certification

Michigan State University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. signed the university’s 2021 Title IX Certification document under the impression all of the reports were reviewed by a board member as required by the state.

Board members have called for Stanley’s resignation due to concerns over the certification process, accusing him of falsely certifying the Title IX document without a review from all of the board members.

The process, actually, requires only one board member to review the reports on top of Stanley. With his signature, Stanley checked “Yes” to a section of the Title IX Transparency Reporting Form saying “The university certifies that its president or a chancellor and a member of its governing board has reviewed all title IX reports involving alleged misconduct of an employee of the university.”

Stanley not only defended his actions but said it was the board that fell short of its responsibilities.

“I faithfully complied with this Michigan certification process last two years, and reviewed all the Title IX reports,” Stanley said at the faculty senate meeting on Sept. 13. “Contrary to the information previously provided to me, in June of this year, June 2022, I was notified that some of our board members may not have actually complied with their part of the state requirement in 2021.”

Although the requirement is for only one board member to read the cases, at MSU, reports are assigned and divided amongst the board members of the Audit Risk and Compliance Committee, university spokesperson Emily Guerrant said. However, she was not sure which of the four members participated in the reviews and said that other board members may have helped out by reading reports.

The certification is meant to confirm to the state that the university president and at least one member of the university’s governing board have reviewed all Title IX misconduct cases by a university employee in the respective fiscal year.

Had Stanley not confirmed he and at least one person from the governing board reviewed the documents, the university would be subject to a withholding of 10% of their state funding, the certification document says.

Board chair Dianne Byrum and outgoing trustee Melanie Foster have publicly shown support for Stanley and are against his resignation.

ASMSU Academic Committee passes bill advocating for renaming of Broad College lab

The Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, Academic Committee held a meeting on Sep. 15 electing a new chair and vice chair and passing two bills supporting donor accountability and renaming of a Broad College lab.

The committee held an election for a new vice chair. Committee members nominated College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Representative Nicholas Prestly and Council of Students with Disabilities Representative Maddie Tocco. After a ten-minute closed session, the committee held a private vote. Tocco won in a 4-3 vote with one abstention and immediately assumed the role.

The committee then held an election for the new chair. Members nominated James Madison College Representative Shaurya Pandya and Asian Pacific American Student Organization, or APASO, Representative Connor Le. Both candidates gave two-minute speeches, which were followed by a closed session and private vote.

The vote resulted in a 4-4 tie, so the committee determined that the candidates would each create a two-minute video to send to the committee members. Then all committee members — including those not in attendance at the meeting — would vote remotely for the new chair.

Le introduced Bill 59-10 which advocates for the removal of Larry Gaynor’s name from the Gaynor Entrepreneurship Lab in the Broad College of Business.

The Gaynor Entrepreneurship Lab is a room in the Broad College of Business named after MSU alumnus and donor Larry Gaynor. Le said in 2020, Gaynor went on a racist tirade against Vietnamese-Americans and Vietnamese salon owners. Student groups first requested the name change in 2020, but it was dismissed at the time.

After several more representatives echoed their support of the bill, the bill unanimously passed.

Le introduced Bill 59-11 which aims to establish accountability policies and stricter background checks for MSU donors whose names may be included around buildings on campus.

The committee unanimously voted to table the discussion item regarding goals for the committee until a new chair is elected.

Based on original reporting by Jenna Malinowski, Wendy Guzman, and Amalia Medina.