Three more lawsuits have been filed against Ohio State, condemning the university’s failure to address the sexual harassment of student-athletes at Larkins Hall by former Ohio State physician Richard Strauss. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
More than 40 more victims of former Ohio State physician Richard Strauss have sued the university in the past week for failing to address Strauss’ sexual abuse while they were student-athletes.
Three lawsuits come after the university’s Strauss Individual Settlement Program became available for victims May 7 — these plaintiffs are not included in that program. The victims called for the court to declare Ohio State’s conduct in violation of Title IX and to award them monetary damages in amounts to be established at trial, according to the lawsuits.
The lawsuits were filed in the U.S. Southern District Court of Ohio, two on Friday and one on Monday — two years after the Perkins Coie report, which found in May 2019 that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 students and student-athletes during his time at the university and Ohio State was aware of complaints against him and failed to act.
The lawsuits state because the university knew of Strauss’ abuse, the university failed to fulfill obligations under Title IX to address complaints of abuse and in doing so created a hostile environment.
“OSU failed the Plaintiffs and Strauss’ other victims in every imaginable way,” one lawsuit states. “It effectively gave Strauss a green light to prey upon male OSU students as he saw fit. Strauss took full advantage of every opportunity OSU gave him to assault, abuse, and harass Plaintiffs and other male OSU students.”
Strauss was a physician at the university’s Student Wellness Center and the team doctor for 17 varsity sports from 1978-98.
He died by suicide in 2005.
The Strauss Individual Settlement program will provide individual settlements of up to an average of $252,551 to more than 121 Strauss victims involved in five open cases against the university. Individual settlement amounts will be determined by an independent administrator and allow for additional money to be awarded on a case-by-case basis, and plaintiffs are only allowed to participate through their counsel.
According to the terms of the settlement program, the plaintiffs who came forward in the Monday and Friday lawsuits are ineligible to participate because they are not part of the current five active cases against the university.
“Ohio State remains committed to acknowledging the condemnable behavior of a medical doctor who so clearly betrayed his position of power and trust,” University President Kristina M. Johnson said in a statement May 7. “We once again thank the survivors for coming forward and the courage to bring this abuse to light.”
One lawsuit, filed Friday by attorney Ben Crump, represents 26 victims of Strauss and cites abuse in Larkins Hall, including one case where Strauss repeatedly followed a plaintiff into the locker room showers and touched himself inappropriately while the victim bathed or undressed.
According to the suit, Strauss threatened another plaintiff — a head trainer for the wrestling team — that he would have him removed from his position if he didn’t do what Strauss wanted.
All plaintiffs stated they weren’t aware Strauss’ behavior was sexual assault until the release of the Perkins Coie report in 2019.
Crump said in a statement Ohio State needs to reconsider the Individual Settlement Program to include all victims.
“It’s inexcusable that OSU, who has the power to ease the suffering of these victims, instead has chosen to deny them access to the settlement program. Cutting off who receives some measure of justice indicates exactly where OSU stands,” Crump stated. “And it’s not with these victims.”
Another lawsuit, filed Friday, represents 13 victims of Strauss and details the environment in Larkins Hall, required sports physicals by Strauss for student-athletes, the timeline of abuse and the information regarding the Perkins Coie report. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs were all either former Ohio State students or student-athletes.
“With this suit, Plaintiffs seek to hold OSU accountable for its failures, and to ensure that something like this can never happen again,” the lawsuit states.
In the lawsuit, one victim, who was a former athlete, said he felt powerless to stop Strauss’ sexual abuse.
“Someone had to make that decision [to let Strauss continue conducting physicals],” the victim stated. “Let’s say he’s a great doctor, fine. He doesn’t have to do the physicals, because it’s like someone was pretty much feeding us to him. I didn’t have a choice to say, ‘I want somebody else to do my physical’ because I didn’t feel like I had any power in that position.”
Other victims in the lawsuits described genital examinations during which Strauss would sexually assault them.
A final lawsuit, filed Monday, details Strauss’ sexual abuse of two student-athletes. It also lists 25 named university officials who received reports or student complaints during Strauss’ tenure — including head team physicians, athletic directors, coaches and athletic training directors.
In the lawsuit, a former wrestler stated Strauss sexually abused him during physical examinations and offered to write him a letter of recommendation for medical school.
The lawsuit also argues Ohio State ignored and facilitated the abuse, describing an incident in which former Director of Student Health Services Dr. Ted Grace — who surrendered his medical license in Ohio April 14 — legitimized and concealed the abuse by denying the existence of any prior complaints and saying the examination was “medically appropriate.”
“Plaintiffs trusted OSU to act in their best interests when selecting, training and supervising the team physicians on its faculty, which included the need to regularly and competently evaluate the quality of care and the integrity of the medical services that Dr. Strauss provided to OSU’s students and athletes,” the lawsuit states.
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