Brenda Tracy — a rape survivor and activist who accused former Michigan State soccer coach Mel Tucker of sexual harassment — is suing Michigan State’s board of trustees, in keeping with a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Courtroom for the Western District of Michigan.
Within the go well with, Tracy alleges MSU’s board of trustees and two board members individually named as defendants — Rema Vassar and Dennis Denno — “breached their responsibility of care” by disclosing Tracy’s identification to “outdoors events,” and by failing to handle harassment and threats focused at Tracy after she accused Tucker of sexual misconduct in 2022.
Included amongst Tracy’s particular claims in opposition to the board are a breach of statutory responsibility, a breach of the board’s code of ethics and conduct, a breach of contract, tortious interference with a contract and gross negligence, amongst different claims in opposition to Vassar and Denno.
“These are publicly elected officers which can be held to a really excessive customary. … The truth that I consider they’ve one thing to do or had been concerned with a leak of my title shouldn’t be OK,” Tracy stated Tuesday.
Tracy’s lawyer, Karen Truszkowski, declined to remark.
Michigan State stated Tuesday the college “doesn’t touch upon pending litigation.” Vassar and Denno didn’t instantly reply to messages looking for remark.
Tuesday’s submitting is the newest in a multipronged authorized saga involving Tracy, Tucker and Michigan State management. Tracy sued Tucker in October 2024 for defamation and different claims associated to the alleged sexual harassment. Tucker sued Michigan State final summer time, alleging wrongful termination.
The varsity fired Tucker for trigger in September 2023 after a USA At this time story publicly revealed the allegations Tracy made in opposition to Tucker; she alleged Tucker made sexual feedback and masturbated with out her consent whereas on a cellphone name along with her in April 2022 after they developed knowledgeable relationship. Tracy filed a grievance in opposition to Tucker with MSU’s Title IX workplace in December 2022 and the workplace employed an outdoor lawyer to finish an investigation.
Within the wake of the allegations turning into public, Michigan State suspended Tucker with out pay. He denied Tracy’s allegations in an announcement on the time, saying the April 2022 cellphone dialog was “solely mutual.”
Along with detailing Tracy’s allegations in opposition to Tucker, the 51-page lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges MSU’s board of trustees “breached (its) responsibility to maintain (Tracy’s) identification confidential by sharing particulars of the RVSM [Relationship Violence & Sexual Misconduct] investigation with outdoors events” with out Tracy’s data or consent, and that the “particular person defendants knew or ought to have recognized that Tucker posed a possible risk to the MSU group at massive, and to (Tracy) particularly.”
The go well with additionally alleges that “MSU, via their agent Tucker, tortiously interfered with and breached the contract by abruptly canceling” a scheduled look Tracy had with MSU’s soccer workforce on July 22, 2023, and that consequently, Tracy “has precise damages of $10,000 and consequential damages from the lack of potential MSU appearances, in addition to appearances at different schools and universities.”
Moreover, the go well with alleges Tracy’s “hand was compelled” concerning telling USA At this time to proceed with its story after her identification circulated amongst native and nationwide media shops, and that Tracy was “falsely accused of leaking her personal title, exposing her and her household to heightened threats of violence.”
In September 2023, Tracy stated in a letter launched via Truszkowski that she didn’t intend to reveal her identification publicly through the investigation and solely agreed to permit USA At this time to run its story after her title leaked to native media.
“I deserved to have the ability to undergo that investigation and that course of with out being outed,” Tracy stated Tuesday. “That ought to’ve by no means occurred.”
The go well with additionally alleges that within the wake of Tucker’s firing, Tracy and her non-profit, Set The Expectation, “obtained a whole lot of hateful and threatening messages” throughout social media platforms and that the “defendants have additionally executed nothing to handle the harassment, and certainly [the] defendant’s nonfeasance continues to escalate the harassment.”
Tracy stated Tuesday that she has been unemployed since her title turned public, and the board of her non-profit just lately voted to dissolve the entity.
Per the lawsuit, Tracy is looking for compensatory damages for psychological and emotional misery, in addition to punitive damages and injunctive aid requiring the board to take steps to stop and examine sexual harassment and mitigate its results.
She stated she thinks Michigan State owes her an apology.
“I feel as I’m going via this course of, I do want to determine what accountability for me seems like,” Tracy stated. “But when we’re talking when it comes to cash, I do consider that I ought to be compensated for the hurt that’s been executed to me, and I don’t suppose that I’m fallacious for wanting that or looking for that in addition to different accountability.”
— Matt Baker and Lindsay Schnell contributed to this report.
(Photograph of Brenda Tracy: Matthew Dae Smith / Lansing State Journal through USA At this time)
