On January 24th, Larry Nassar, former sports medicine doctor, was sentenced to 40-175 years in prison because of his disgusting actions.

Nassar sexually abused over 140 women, who gave brave, powerful testimonies about the horrendous things he did. Even though Nassar will be locked up for life, this isn't over. Those who played a role in his abuse will have to answer, and one of those institutions involved, Michigan State University, is one of them.

Nassar served as a sports physician at Michigan State from 1997-2016 . That's almost 20 years. 20 years of him abusing patients. 20 years of him walking freely while committing awful crimes. Victims reported what Nassar did to them and yet, Michigan State did nothing. Michigan State didn't believe what was reported and wouldn't listen to victims, and now, they have to pay for this.

The calls for Michigan State's president Lou Anna Simon to resign have been growing stronger and stronger; in fact, even Michigan legislators are getting involved. Whether or not Simon herself knew about Nassar is unclear, but the Michigan State's handling of the abuse has been so horrific that she needs to. Yet, despite all this backlash, only recently decided to step down. While it's good she is finally to step down, the action comes too late; the damage has already been done.

Michigan State's Board of Trustees has also been under fire for their continued support of Simon. In fact, only two members have publicly spoken out against Simon; the rest still insisted that she must remain.

The entire board needs to step down as well; their response to Nassar and the victims have been appalling. Here is a statement from one of the board members, Joel Ferguson:

Nassar's abuse is not "just this Nassar thing." Nassar abused over 140 girls. That sounds more than just a "thing" to me.

The fact that Ferguson chooses to switch the focus from the victims to how Simon got money for the basketball arena and how the school has a wait list of students shows that the board cares more about what gets the university money rather than who a man employed by the university harmed. The board's prolonged support of Simon and refusing to think there needs to be an administrative change shows that.

Michigan State, it's time to step up. You got rid of the president, but the board needs to go to. In order to move forward, you need a complete administrative overhaul. You need to start fresh and really examine what went wrong.

Most of all, Michigan State, you need to take victim's stories seriously. You need to really listen when someone reports sexual abuse, assault, or harassment and take action, no matter who the accused party is. Reporting sexual assault is a major issue on campuses across America, but you now have the opportunity to change. You need to start caring about victims.

Had victims been taken seriously, Nassar could've been gone and locked up sooner; instead, he was given 20 years to continue his abusive behavior. Nassar will forever be a scar on the university, and no one will forget how poorly you've handled this, but you need to take action and change policies to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.