Ohio State Sports Doctor Sexually Abused at Least 177 Men – The Chronicle of Higher Education
For almost two decades, it was an open secret on the Ohio State University campus. There was something odd in how the physician Richard H. Strauss examined male athletes.
“The student-athletes we interviewed described how certain aspects of Strauss’ behavior were broadly witnessed and discussed in the athletics department,” states a long-awaited independent investigator’s report, released on Friday. “Including the fact that Strauss habitually showered with the male student-athletes, and that he frequently performed lengthy or medically unnecessary genital exams on male student-athletes, regardless of what injury or illness was presented to him.”
So if everyone in athletics knew, why did no one stop it? That fundamental question is at the heart of the troubling 182-page investigative report, produced by the Seattle-based Perkins Coie law firm. The report comes more than 13 months after Ohio State announced the first allegations against Strauss, and the university’s investigation is expected to cost at least $6.2 million.