mathematician Jim Simons gifted $150 million to the school. In 2012, Stanley and his wife announced the establishment of the Ellen Li and Samuel S. Stanley Jr. Endowed Scholarship in the Stony Brook University School of Medicine. He also associated the university with the United Nations HeForShe program and committed the university to addressing gender equity issues. Upon Stanley's arrival, Stony Brook faced a $13 million budget deficit which grew to $21 million and led to a hiring freeze in December 2009 and closure of the 81-acre campus in Southampton in 2010. Students brought suit to the university over the closure, resulting in a settlement which included a public apology by Stanley and an agreement to maintain an environmental degree program the students were enrolled in. By 2017, Stony Brook's budget deficit grew to $35 million which led to development of a budget plan which included controversial cuts to the university's humanities funding. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Stanley's salary was $690,040 during the 2014–15 school year and ranked the 25th-highest amongst public university executives in the United States; from 2009 to 2012, the Stony Brook Foundation awarded Stanley $250,000 in addition to his base salary. In January 2015, Stanley began his term on the NCAA Division I board of directors. On July 19, 2016, Stanley was appointed to the NCAA board of governors. The board adopted a sexual violence policy in 2017 and in 2018 heard recommendations to tie athlete eligibility to behavior, but took no immediate action. Stanley's term expired in 2018 and in 2020 the board expanded the NCAA's sexual violence policy to require student-athletes to annually disclose any investigations or disciplinary matters in their past. President of Michigan State University Stanley was named president of Michigan State University on May 28, 2019, to succeed Lou Anna Simon, who resigned in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal, with his tenure officially beginning on August 1. On August 29, 2019, two Michigan State students were charged with false terrorism threats after posting a plan to assassinate Stanley on the Michigan State subreddit. The new president said early in his tenure that his top priority was to make Michigan State as safe, respectful and welcoming as it can be. Meeting with and listening to members of the university community, including conversations with groups of sexual assault survivors, was a focus of his first months at MSU.