Brenda Tracy angers the MSU board for improperly sharing her name

Brenda Tracy and her attorney delivered an emotionally charged condemnation of Michigan State University's handling of its sexual harassment case against former football coach Mel Tucker at Friday's Board of Trustees meeting.

“I won’t mince words,” Tracy told the board. “I am here today to tell you how you harmed me.”

Tracy always knew she would have to “protect herself” from public scrutiny if the story broke, she said, but she “didn't have to protect herself from the MSU board.”

She criticized one trustee's refusal to participate in an outside investigation into who leaked her name, suggesting he had not yet been cleared of wrongdoing, and rebuked another for her involvement in texts implicating a former Trustee blamed victim.

She also denied allegations that trustees communicated inappropriately with her and her attorney during the leak investigation to influence the results.

Tracy said at a town hall in Okemos earlier this month that she has been unemployed since the leak and donations have stopped flowing to her nonprofit, Set The Expectation.

“My life was kind of decimated,” Tracy said at the time.

The town hall meeting took place shortly after Tracy sued Tucker for defamation. She said that while she reserves the right to add MSU as a defendant in her lawsuit, the university is not her focus at this time.

Tucker is currently suing MSU, claiming he was wrongfully terminated, although lawyers for the university this week asked a federal judge to dismiss the case, calling it a “kitchen sink complaint.”

USA Today announced in September 2023 that Tucker, then one of the highest paid football coaches in the country, was under investigation for sexual harassment. He was quickly suspended and later fired.

Tracy said that Tucker made sexual comments during a phone conversation with her and masturbated while she was working as a consultant for his team – an allegation that MSU's Office of Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct later determined to be true.

Tracy said she never wanted to go public with her story, but shared documents and personal statements with USA Today in case her name was ever leaked.

She gave the channel the green light to publish the story after it became clear that her name had indeed been leaked. Days before the story broke, a local reporter told her attorney “that they had heard Brenda's name,” Karen Truszkowski said.

Truszkowski initially told the board in a private email that she believed the leak came from “someone associated with the board” — a message that was later shared with The State News.

“How ironic,” Truszkowski said of the numerous leaks. “Where’s the trust here, guys?”

An independent investigation failed to identify the source of the leak but reported that trustee Dennis Denno refused to hand over his phone to investigators.

In her address to the board, Tracy criticized Denno's lack of cooperation in the investigation and suggested that he therefore could not be fully cleared of wrongdoing.

Denno did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

MSU Board President Dan Kelly told reporters after the meeting that despite Denno's lack of cooperation, he did not believe another leak investigation was necessary.

MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz said Tracy's statement was “emotional for many in the room.”

Both declined to comment further on Tracy's allegations, citing pending litigation between Tucker and Tracy.

Trustee Rema Vassar claimed trustees interfered in the leak investigation by improperly communicating with Truszkowski and Tracy, an allegation Tucker repeated in a lawsuit against the university.

Tracy and Truszkowski vehemently denied the accusation.

“I will raise my right hand and state unequivocally that I have never spoken, met, emailed or texted anyone on this board,” Truszkowski said, as several trustees nodded in agreement.

Tracy criticized Vassar for causing a heart reaction to victim-blaming text messages sent to her by former MSU trustee Pat O'Keefe.

In her address to the board, Tracy read the following portion of the text message, which was reviewed by the State News:

“Her actions are unprofessional and therefore it is difficult to understand why she would commit such career suicide. I've been around people who were hurt and wanted to hurt someone just to feel good. She had a lot of ways out if.” She didn't want to be a victim, like she was hanging up, the battery was dead, I had to worry about something else, but I'm not suspicious because of motivation, but I bet she does. He doesn't appear or tries to influence the process.

Copies of the texts obtained by The State News show that Vassar responded to the news with heart.

“Dr. Vassar, this message was sent to you and you supported it by putting your heart into it,” Tracy said.

Tracy also noted that O'Keefe claimed she wasn't “showing up,” apparently referring to the sexual harassment hearing MSU held last October over allegations of sexual misconduct by Tucker.

Tracy pointed out that she actually showed up to the hearing while Tucker was absent.