(WWJ) – A Michigan State University hearing officer has determined former football coach Mel Tucker is responsible for violating the university's sexual harassment policy.
A 73-page report issued on Wednesday found Tucker sexually harassed and exploited Brenda Tracy, a prominent sexual assault survivor and activist who had been hired to speak with the MSU program as a sexual violence prevention educator.
The investigation found Tucker violated the school’s policy when he masturbated and made sexual comments without Tracy’s consent while on the phone with her in April 2022.
The report also says Tucker made “unwanted sexual advances” towards Tracy in the months leading up to the phone call and “engaged in quid pro quo sexual harassment after, when he subsequently ended their business relationship,” according to a USA Today report.
Tucker had told the investigator that he and Tracy had been in a consensual, romantic relationship and their “phone sex” was consensual. But the investigator deemed that was “less plausible, less consistent and less supported by the evidence than Tracy's,” according to the USA Today report.
The investigator conclude that there is “sufficient evidence to conclude that [Tucker] subjected [Tracy] to unwelcome conduct based on sex when he FaceTime video called [Tracy] without a shirt on; when he attempted to meet up with [Tracy] alone following the Spring Game; and when he non-consensually masturbated and used graphic, sexual language on a phone call with [Tracy]."
A formal hearing – which Tucker did not attend due to what his legal team called “a serious medical condition” – was held in early October, 10 months after Tracy first filed a complaint with MSU’s Title IX office.
When the complaint was first filed, the school hired an outside attorney, who spent seven months investigating before submitting a report to the school, which led to the October hearing.
MSU initially suspended Tucker when the allegations came to light in a USA Today story in early September, and he was fired for cause two weeks later, saying he violated his moral turpitude clause in his contract.
The former coach has indicated he plans to sue MSU for wrongful termination.