Former OSU President E. Gordon Gee lounges on a chair during an interview with The Lantern Oct. 21, 2013. Credit: Shelby Lum | Lantern File Photo

In 2019, former Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee told The Lantern that he had no recollection of Dr. Richard Strauss. 

A former university physician, Strauss abused at least 177 Ohio State athletes and students from 1978-98. He was under Gee’s presidency for the last eight years of his tenure with the university, retiring in 1998 with emeritus status. Strauss died by suicide in 2005.

Now Gee is back at the university for one year as a part-time consultant and as President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr.’s self-described “wingman.”

The university hired a third-party law firm, Perkins Coie, to investigate Strauss’ history of sex abuse within the university and whether the university was made aware of it during Strauss’ tenure. The firm’s report, released in 2019, confirms that university personnel were aware of Strauss’ abuse and failed to take action. 

Chris Booker, university spokesperson, said in a statement, “Ohio State is a fundamentally different university today than it was when Strauss was an employee.”

Gee’s name shows up 32 times in the report.

As first reported in The Rooster, it is unclear in the report if Gee was notified of the reasoning behind Strauss’ removal from Student Health and the Athletics Departments in 1996 before Strauss’ retirement in 1998. 

Booker said that the university has led the effort to investigate Strauss and chose Perkins Coie to conduct “an external, independent investigation.” 

“We continue to express our deep regret and apologies to all who experienced Strauss’ abuse,” Booker said. “We are forever grateful to the survivors who participated in the independent investigation, which could not have been completed without their strength and courage.”

For survivors like Steve Snyder-Hill, he feels that letting Gee return shows that the university is not that different today from when Strauss was employed.

“OSU claims it is a fundamentally different university today than it was when it enabled Strauss’s abuse,” Sndyer-Hill said in a statement. “But its decision to rehire E. Gordon Gee proves otherwise: he was complicit in OSU’s cover-up of the abuse, letting Strauss retire with emeritus status. This shows that OSU is continuing its efforts to manipulate and conceal the truth and is just paying lip service to the survivors of Strauss’s abuse. From where I sit, this makes the OSU of today even worse.”

Gee did not respond to The Lantern’s request for comment by the time of publication.

The first time Gee is mentioned in the report is on March 17, 1997. Dr. Manuel Tzagournis, then vice president for Health Sciences, copied Gee on a letter to Strauss indicating that if Strauss questions the university’s previous decision not to renew his tenure, Strauss could send Gee a letter to request an appeal. 

Over two weeks later, on April 3, 1997, Strauss sent a letter to Gee, copying Tzagournis, where he claims that “he was terminated from his position as a Student Health Services physician without ‘due process,’” according to the report. Tzagournis replied to his letter on June 6, 1997, which said that the Strauss’ case would not have any further internal review. 

On July 30, 1997, Strauss sent a second letter to Gee, alleging that he had been unfairly terminated as a physician at Ohio State. Gee spoke with the investigative team working on the Perkins Coie report, but did not remember the letter. However, he was certain that he would have been briefed on the Strauss situation at the time and that he had complete faith in the lawyers working on the case, according to the report. 

In October 1997, Strauss was informed that Gee would do nothing further in his case, and, according to the report, Strauss notified the then-Acting Director of the School of Public Health of his intention to retire from the university.

On March 1, 1998, Strauss received “emeritus” status — an honorary title given in recognition for contributions to the university upon retirement — from the university despite some university personnel knowing of Strauss’ abuse as early as 1979, according to the report. 

In the latter half of the report, it is communicated that Gee received a letter on Dec. 19, 1990, from a faculty member describing concerns about the conditions of Larkins Hall, a facility that Strauss operated out of. However, the complaint did not express any “voyeurism or other sexual activities” taking place in the building. 

Gee requested that the then-Director of the Department of University Recreation and Intramural Sports, Fred Beekman, and the then-Assistant Vice President of Physical Facilities, Jim Stevens, issue a report on the concerns on Jan. 22, 1991. 

Gee was forwarded the copies of the reports by Beekman and Stevens on Feb. 12, 1991, which acknowledged the poor conditions of the building, but with no concerns for any sexual misconduct, according to the report. 

Gee acknowledged to the investigative team behind the Perkins Coie report that while there were complaints about Larkins Hall, he never received any accusations regarding voyeurism or other sexual activities. However, he noted that “he was not suggesting that those incidents did not occur, rather, that he simply could not recollect them,” according to the report. 

Survivors of Strauss’ abuse have been in ongoing lawsuits with the university, per prior Lantern reporting. A documentary detailing the abuse, “Surviving Ohio State,” also aired on HBO this past summer. 

In a 2019 luncheon at the Columbus Metropolitan Club, after the Perkins Coie report was released, Gee said that he has “some responsibility” for Strauss’ employment under his watch. 

According to a one-on-one interview with ABC6 reporter Lu Ann Stoia, Gee said that he does not remember Strauss and has also not spoken with any victims of the abuse. He said in the interview that if he had the opportunity to talk with any of the victims, he would express his regrets to them and their families. 

This article was updated Sept. 10 at 8:45 p.m. to include a quote from Steve Snyder-Hill, one of the survivors of Strauss’ abuse.