Ohio State University is being sued over the handling of sexual abuse complaints against Dr. Richard Strauss. On Wednesday, former students filed a lawsuit, the fifth one in the last two years, against the university over its response to sexual assault complaints against the former doctor, according to a NBC news report.
Filed by Pennsylvania-based attorney Joseph Sauder, most of the accounts match the earlier description of other students who were sexually abused by the disgraced physician.
“The numbers don’t lie. These men were repeatedly sexually abused by Strauss at different times, in different manners,” the lawsuit read.
Strauss was a former university-employed physician from the mid-1970s to the 1990s and accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of students. With the latest lawsuit, the number has jumped upto nearly 350 students. He committed suicide in 2005.
“I was always afraid. [Strauss] was the leading doctor on steroid use in the world, and I was always like, he could always say that medically there’s some reason that he needs to spend 15 minutes on my penis,” an athlete who wished to stay anonymous told Theee Lantern earlier this year.
“He could have said that and he’s dead now, but that’s what always scared me. But now I’m like, that’s crazy. Especially when that other doctor came in five minutes and checked me out.”
The suit alleges the university of using its attorneys to dismiss various lawsuits filed by the victims and called on the school to take accountability for “employing and emboldening” a sexual offender.
“Dr. Richard Strauss is dead. He can’t pay for his crimes. Only his enabler is left..,” the lawsuit read.
Earlier, a report from the law firm Perkins Coie had alleged university officials of having prior information about Strauss’ misconduct as early in 1979. The report further accused school officials of not investigating his actions and failing to report his misconduct to law enforcement.