密歇根新闻广播 MSU董事会的未来

The Larry Nassar trials are over and the final round of sentencing hearings begin this week in Eaton County. More and more attention now is turning to East Lansing and how the top echelons¹ at Michigan State University allowed an environment for this abuse to happen and continue.

And because the MSU Board of Trustees is elected statewide, the university’s handling of the situation is going to be a political issue in the 2018 elections.

Most state university boards in Michigan are appointed by the governor but not Michigan State, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University. These boards are chosen by voters in statewide elections.

In fact, elected university boards are a rarity across the country.

It is no doubt that come November the horrific stories of Nassar’s abuse will cloud the ballot².

Two Republican MSU board members have already announced they will not seek reelection this year. Whoever runs for those open seats will have to answer questions about how they would have handled the Nassar controversy³ and future culture change at MSU.

It's Just Politics with Zoe Clark and Rick Pluta

Candidates for the board tend to be who you might expect: loyal alumni with a lot of school spirit, political connections, and, usually, money to finance their own campaigns. But, that will not cut it now.

The current board has been blasted for its seemingly cold, slow, and often tone deaf response to victims and the public. That will not work in 2018.

The statements we heard from the women who testified at the sentencing were powerful calls for change at MSU. Could we see one of the survivors⁵ harness that power and make their own run for the MSU board?

Certainly, there’s talk in both Republican and Democratic circles that a survivor⁴ should be on the ballot. That would both send a message and be the right recipe for pushing that culture shift at the university.

And that message could resonate up and down the ballot. MSU’s handling of what one trustee glibly⁶ called “that Nassar thing” will have ramifications⁷ that go from the top of the ballot all the way down.

1 echelons   

n.（机构中的）等级，阶层( echelon的名词复数 )；（军舰、士兵、飞机等的）梯形编队

参考例句：

• Officers were drawn largely from the top echelons of society. 这些官员大都来自社会上层。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Except in the higher echelons, extensive classification has no place in the classification of vegetation. 除高阶类级之外，外延分类在植物分类中还是没有地位的。 来自辞典例句

2 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

3 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

4 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

5 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

6 glibly   

adv.流利地，流畅地；满口

参考例句：

• He glibly professed his ignorance of the affair. 他口口声声表白不知道这件事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He put ashes on his head, apologized profusely, but then went glibly about his business. 他表示忏悔，满口道歉，但接着又故态复萌了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 ramifications   

n.结果，后果( ramification的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These changes are bound to have widespread social ramifications. 这些变化注定会造成许多难以预料的社会后果。
• What are the ramifications of our decision to join the union? 我们决定加入工会会引起哪些后果呢？ 来自《简明英汉词典》