EAST LANSING – A former high-ranking Michigan State official has filed a lawsuit claiming she was fired in retaliation for following university policy and reporting complaints of sexual misconduct to the proper school officials.
Former assistant vice president for university advancement Alison Gaudreau said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan that she was fired by Vice President of University Advancement Kim Tobin as an act of retaliation after reporting two claims of sexual harassment or discrimination to MSU’s Office of Institutional Equity.
Most MSU employees, including undergraduate and graduate students and volunteers, are required under university policies to immediately notify the OIE office of complaints of sexual misconduct from staff or students.
The lawsuit was filed on Feb. 5, eight years after former MSU doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced in Ingham and Eaton counties for sexual assault that sent him to prison with an effective life sentence. That scandal triggered major changes in the way the university handles reports of sexual misconduct and led to the policies that exist today.
Gaudrea isn’t the first employee to argue that some officials disregard the university’s new policies on sexual misconduct.
Another high-level official, Stephanie Anthony, said in a 2025 court filing notifying MSU she may file litigation that she was sexually and racially discriminated against by another top university official. Anthony is still listed as the director of the Office of College Access Initiatives and has served as an advisor to MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz on sexual misconduct issues. She said her supervisor, Vice Provost for University Outreach and Engagement Kwesi Brookins, repeatedly broke state and federal civil rights laws by discriminating against her and subjecting her to a hostile work environment.
Guskiewicz said he had not seen Gaudreau’s lawsuit when asked to comment Feb. 6.
“I was made aware of it early this morning … I was preparing for the board meeting so I have not even had a chance to take a look,” Guskiewicz said after trustees met publicly. Gaudreau filed a notice of intent to sue the university in June of 2025.
What the lawsuit claims
Gaudreau previously worked as the assistant vice president for the university advancement, a department that aims to “cultivate and marshal the millions of dollars in private donations and fundraising,” according to the filing. She worked in the department from November 2022 to January 2025 and was responsible for donor relations.
She received positive performance prior to July 2024, when she “learned of reports of sexual harassment and/or discrimination by other employees by virtue of her supervisory position.” The lawsuit notes she “had a duty to advise MSU’s Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) of the claims by other employees” and did so involving an allegation by an employee in the advancement office.
Gaudreau said in the filing she was reprimanded by Tobin for filing the report, saying she should have “tried to work with” human resources representatives to avoid having to file a complaint, according to the filing. Tobin also expressed concerns because the reports reflected poorly on her as the head of the department, even though some of the reports were from instances before Tobin was hired in 2022.
In August 2024, Gaudreau filed a second report to OIE after learning of a complaint of sexual misconduct from an employee in the advancement office. A month later, Tobin wrote in a September 2024 performance evaluation that Gaudreau “meets expectations,” according to the complaint. But Gaudreau said retaliation and complaints about the quality of her work continued from Tobin.
A few months later in December, Gaudreau notified Marilyn Tarrant, MSU’s associate vice president and chief audit, risk and compliance officer, that she felt she was being targeted. She also notified the General Counsel’s office about her concerns of retaliation and leadership concerns regarding Tobin.
Tobin, according to the lawsuit, fired Gaudreau on Jan. 17, 2025, and in the termination letter did not list a reason for the firing. Gaudreau was an at-will employee.
Who is Kim Tobin?
Tobin was hired in 2022, according to MSU’s website, to lead the University Advancement office, which works with alumni, donors, corporations and others to raise money for MSU. Her office coordinates donations ranging from cash to stocks, property, charitable trusts and other gifts, according to the MSU website.
Gaudreau’s lawsuit claims multiple complaints from employees have been made against Tobin.
Much of the staff who reported to Tobin, including Gaudreau, found working for Tobin “very difficult,” according to the complaint. The lawsuit noted that Vivianne Robinson, assistant vice president of operations at MSU who was responsible for human resources in University Advancement, told Gaudreau “about how frustrated Ms. Robinson was with … Tobin’s leadership, and how Ms. Robinson tried to navigate the difficulties in reporting to … Tobin.
“Tobin engaged in playing favorites among staff, and allowed poorly defined job duties to result in staff between teams to have overlapping and conflicting missions. She failed to resolve conflicts that inevitably arose, and she would push some initiatives – like cost-cutting measures – and then back off those immediately and indiscriminately when employees following her directions met resistance from other staffers at cross-purposes,” the lawsuit claims.
After Gaudreau notified OIE of the first complaint she learned of in July 2024, Robinson was present when Tobin “admonished” Gaudreau about filing it, according to the claim. Tobin argued Gaudreau should have tried to work with Robinson in an attempt to avoid reporting the sexual misconduct complaint to OIE, the complaint says.
“Ms. Robinson quickly corrected Defendant Tobin that Plaintiff had absolutely no duty to try to “work with” Ms. Robinson first to attempt to avoid making a report to OIE. Indeed, University rules are quite clear on the point that Plaintiff had a duty to report once she learned of the allegations. Plaintiff would have been in serious violation of MSU policy had she not reported to OIE.”
MSU in May 2025 announced that it is again reviewing how it handles sexual assault and domestic violence on campus, and agreed to work with survivors of Nassar in doing so. Rachael Denhollander, Trinea Gonczar and Sterling Riethman are among the hundreds of women and girls that Larry Nassar abused over his decades at the university, and the university said they would work with MSU professor Rebecca Campbell, who specializes in how systems respond to sexual assault, and Andrea Munford, the lead MSU detective on the Nassar case, to form a Collaborative Advisory Board.
Contact Karly Graham at kgraham@lsj.com. Follow her on X at @KarlyGrahamJrn.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU official says she was fired for following sexual misconduct reporting rules
Reporting by Karly Graham, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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