Ohio State University

NOTE: Starting August 14, 2020, under Betsy DeVos‘s Department of Education: New Title IX regulations no longer require coaches to report sexual misconduct Yahoo News May 7, 2020.  DeVos’s Press Release. Links to Title IX Documents

New Title IX regulations change how colleges must respond to sexual misconduct complaints. ESPN May 6, 2020 Paula Lavigne________________Dr. Richard Strauss, OSU Physician 1978-1998, committed suicide in 2005Former head coach Russ Hellickson, Jim Jordan‘s mentor spoke as a witness against Strauss.  Hellickson and convicted pedophile, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, pictured together here.

The Ohio state legislature passed a bill to allow an extended statute of limitations for the victims to seek justice.

Ohio State Reports Over 1,500 Instances Of Sexual Assault By Team Doctor   Listen: WOSU Public Media By & • October 1, 2019

At the request of OSU, Perkins Coie, LLP, conducted an independent investigation, submitted on May 15, 2019, by Caryn Trombino and Markus Funk on Scribd

  • Dr. Strauss sexually abused at least 177 male students including those under the age of 18, high school and grade-school boys.
  • OSU Student Health Services and/or Athletics Department knew about the sexual abuse of male patients by Dr. Richard Strauss as early as 1979.
  • 1994 Dr. John Lombardo complaint to associated athletic director Paul Krebs about unnecessary genital exams within the fencing team.

Unsealed Complaint Details How Ohio State Officials Allegedly Hid Richard Strauss Abuse WOSU Public Media By . June 24, 2020

371-page Complaint Case: 2:18-cv-00736-MHW-EPD Doc #: 123 Filed: 05/27/20 Alleged:

  • Dr. Ted Grace of OSU Student Health Services, hid lead plaintiff Steve Snyder-Hill’s complaint of Dr. Strauss inappropriately touching him during an exam to keep it out of Dr. Strauss’s personnel file.
  • OSU did not document the 1996 disciplinary hearing of Dr. Strauss (standard procedure).
  • Other victims and departments were not informed of the proceeding.
  • After the 1996 hearing, Dr. Strauss remained a tenured professor and “recommended for emeritus status” in his 1997 retirement by Randall Harris, acting director of the School of Public Health, and Ronald St. Pierre, Vice Dean of the College of Medicine, revoked in 2019.

Ohio State University will pay $41M to 162 men who say they were sexually abused by a team doctor NBCNews By Janelle Griffith

OSU News

Rep. Jim Jordan, founder of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, admitted to “locker room” conversations in 2018. Video: @riotwomenn

On July 4, 2018, Jordan called a whistleblower’s brother, OSU champion wrestler Adam DiSabato, crying and begging him to go against his brother, Mike DiSabato, after a July 3rd NBC News story accusing Jordan of allowing it to happen. Video: @riotwomen

 

UFC legend Mark Coleman claims Rep. Jim Jordan knew about alleged sexual abuse at Ohio State Bloody Elbow By Tim Bissell

Former UFC heavyweight champion Mark Coleman added his name to a list of former wrestlers accusing congressman Jim Jordan, a former OSU wrestling coach, of knowing about abuse by a team doctor.

“There’s no way unless he’s got dementia or something that he’s got no recollection of what was going on at Ohio State – I have nothing but respect for this man … but he knew as far as I’m concerned.”  – UFC legend Mark Coleman on Jim Jordan

Congressman Jim Jordan knew about sex abuse at OSU, former wrestlers say Dayton Daily News  By Jessica Wehrman,  Laura A. Bischoff, &  Jennifer Smola. Jordan denied allegations via spokesperson Tim Fury, failed to respond to OSU’s requests via attorney Kathleen Trafford

Mike DiSabato: “Every day at 3:30 the showers would fill up with deviant, lewd male predators who wanted to come in and shower with elite male wrestlers. Happened every day. Deviant acts in front of us, excessively soaping themselves in their groin area, public masturbation. All kinds of deviant behavior. Voyeurism.” DiSabato said Jordan’s “locker was located right next to Doc Strauss. It was an open, running joke that Doc Strauss was a serial groper.”

Three Strauss victims and former head coach Russ Hellickson appear in a 12-minute private video, describing the abuse. Hellickson recounts telling Strauss that he showered too frequently and too long with student-athletes. “I caught people having sex in our wrestling room, in the stairwell to the wrestling room, in the bathroom adjacent to our wrestling facility and I caught people in masturbation,” Hellickson said. “It became a real problem because it affected their mental state, a lot of our wrestlers.” Hellickson, who served as head coach from 1986 to 2006, said in the video that “Certainly, all of my administrators recognized that it was an issue for me. I’m sure that I talked to all of them on numerous occasions about my discontent with the environment.” One victim describes Strauss examining his genitals when being seen for heartburn.