"We can't continue to operate the way we have been for the past two years," Udpa said a day after the board of trustees forced Engler to step down over his comments that some victims of the imprisoned former campus sports doctor had been "enjoying" the publicity.
Udpa said he supports a campus culture where "everyone respects everybody else," saying he wants to create an environment that makes victims "whole. That's the single-most important priority for me."
Matt Friedman, a communications strategist whose public relations firm has worked with Michigan universities, said Engler was "hired in crisis and he was essentially fired in the same crisis. That's a real failure from a P.R. perspective. ... He just couldn't speak with a level of respect for the victims." He classified his time as "two steps forward and three steps back."
Engler's latest remarks were not the first time he had angered and hurt "sister survivors," the female gymnasts and other young athletes whom Nassar molested under the guise of medical treatment before his arrest in 2016. They welcomed his resignation, saying he had set back not only their own mending but also the university's recovery.
"It's a big sigh of relief that I've been waiting to have for a very long time. I had tears come to my eyes," said Kaylee Lorincz, who attended an emergency public meeting where the board voted to accelerate Engler's departure — immediately instead of next week — and appoint Udpa , who will not seek the permanent job. The move drew loud applause from the crowd.
"I feel like he really delayed that healing process that I've been waiting to start after sentencing with Larry," Lorincz said.
In temporarily handing leadership to a career academic, Friedman said, the board is rightly looking to make sure the situation "doesn't get any worse." But it must "nail" the choice of a permanent president, he said, with someone who will bring "real soul to the university and on this crisis in particular."
"I believe this is the beginning of a better relationship both among board members and to the MSU community as we continue the healing and pay respects to the survivors," said chairwoman Dianne Byrum, who pointed to improved efforts to prevent on-campus sexual misconduct and relationship violence and better care for and protect patients in the wake of Nassar's assaults.
At a board meeting in April, Lorincz alleged that he offered her $250,000 to settle litigation without her lawyer present. Engler said he remembered the meeting differently. Two days later, he sent an email to a top aide saying Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to go public with accusations against Nassar, was probably getting a "kickback" from her attorney for her role in "the trial lawyer manipulation" of other victims. He later apologized.
Engler also drew criticism for scrapping a version of the university's alumni magazine and closing a fund that covered counseling for victims so $8.5 million could be redirected toward the settlement payment, reducing the school's borrowing. The board last week moved to revive the counseling fund.
So what changed with his latest controversy? The board's makeup, which Engler noted in an 11-page resignation letter in which he listed his accomplishments and did not address his controversial remarks to The Detroit News last week.
MSU associate professor Andaluna Borcila, who teaches comparative cultures and politics and called the board's decision to hire Engler a "big mistake," said she only has heard good things about Udpa and hopes he can fill the gap until a longer-term leader is found from outside the university.
"My focus is on the ongoing search for the president who is going to occupy this office in June and July," she said.