EAST LANSING — In the months after the Feb. 13, 2023, mass shooting on Michigan State University’s campus, community members and university alumni donated about $2.6 million to the Spartan Strong Fund.
Almost a year later, the school has released some financial records about how nearly $1.5 million has been or will be spent, but has refused to detail more specifically how the donations have been used.
In response to a public records request last fall from the State Journal, officials included the “purpose” category in a spending summary with some redactions for privacy. In another public records request received last month, the university changed the way it reports spending of the donations, including less information.
Officials have deflected questions for additional details about how the money is being used.
The money is controlled by MSU’s Office for Resource and Support Coordination, “a temporary office to coordinate the university’s continued response and supportive resources following the Feb. 13 violence on campus,” according to the university’s website.
Natalie Moser and Dave Brewer are co-directors of the office. MSU spokesperson Mark Bullion declined to make Moser or Brewer available for an interview.
Bullion said the lack of information is necessary to ensure student and staff privacy, as are the redactions to public records.
Here’s what we know about how the donations have been or are planned to be spent:
MSU announces plan in June
In June, MSU said it would spend the money on several priorities, including:
- Approximately $1 million to help aid those most directly impacted, including supporting undergraduate studies of those students physically injured; supportive and financial resources to about 50 people who were not physically injured but who were in either one of the two first-floor Berkey Hall classrooms or the food court kitchen inside the Union during the shooting. Money was also set aside for the families of Alexandria Verner, Arielle Anderson and Brian Fraser, who were killed in the shooting, for needs that were unmet by state and federal crime victim compensation funds. MSU announced in December it had settled with each of the families, and in January public records obtained by the State Journal showed the university paid each family or estate $5 million.
- $500,000 to reimburse or directly pay for mental health care services for students, faculty, staff and first responders.
- $300,000 — and any remaining contributions to the fund in excess of $2 million — for the creation and installation of a permanent memorial on MSU’s campus.
- $200,000 to support healing and resiliency programming through the Office for Resource and Support Coordination for students, faculty, staff and first responders.
Mental health plan took nearly a year
MSU has been slow to release details about how people could access the mental health money.
Officials had said in June that information about how to access the $500,000 for those seeking reimbursement for mental health care they received to cope with the lasting impacts of trauma would come “soon.”
Details weren’t released until about two weeks ago.
Alexis Travis, assistant provost and executive director of Health and Wellbeing, said when the plan was announced it took time to establish the application to make it “the most streamlined process possible for our students, faculty, staff and first responders so it would be as easy as possible for them to access these resources in an equitable way.”
The money is available to people who had out-of-pocket, co-insurance or deductible costs for outpatient counseling and mental health care services, including tele-health, in-patient hospitalization with a mental health diagnosis or residential mental health treatment.
Spending difficult to track
Financial records obtained through a public records request showed nearly $900,000 had been spent through Nov. 16. What isn’t clear from those records is what exactly the money was used for. A document released by the university showed the “expense type,” “purpose” and the total amount spent, but information that would reveal groups or categories of faculty, staff or students was redacted.
MSU allocated $40,000 each for “faculty support” and “staff support,” but it’s unclear whether the money went to a specific department or selected faculty or staff. Another $83,465 was spent for “student support,” but it is also unclear how this money was split or if it went to specific students or a department or departments within the university.
There are two entries for “donations” of $95,000, with the purpose of “disbursement for February 13.” No other details were provided.
There are seven entries under “scholarships and fellowships,” including $45,000 for “SOL Emergency Funds.”
The other six “scholarships and fellowships” entries, totaling just more than $491,000 in amounts ranging from $8,000 to $208,000, went to “students.” All other detail is redacted from the records.
The records show $2,177 was spent on the University Health and Wellbeing’s April Connections support.
Spending slows
A second public records request from the State Journal was fulfilled earlier this month in which MSU showed another $98,209 in spending from Nov. 17 through Jan. 12. But the university did not disclose the “purpose” category it had in the previous financial records. Instead, the records lump spending into one of six categories. New expenditures of $95,000 were reported under “donations” and $3,209 under “scholarships and fellowships.”
The other categories are programmatic, staff, faculty and student support.
Bullion said providing less information about spending in February than the university had in December was simpler and gave students further protections.
The money allocated in the financial records totals just more than $990,000, and the planned spending of $500,000 for mental health care reimbursements brings the total to $1.49 million.
Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@lsj.com, or follow her on X @sarahmatwood
