COLUMBUS — The number of sexual assaults attributed to former Ohio State University team doctor Richard Strauss during his 20 years on campus neared 1,500, according to a crime report released by the university Tuesday.
Ohio State released an independent report in May detailing acts of sexual abuse against at least 177 former students by Strauss, who served as a physician in the Department of Athletics and Student Health Services from 1978 until 1996.
The university’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Reports for 2018 include 992 instances of Strauss fondling students and 30 incidents of rape which were reported that year. The university says four more incidents had been reported in 1995 and 1996 and, so far in 2019, the university has received 437 reports of fondling and 17 additional reports of rapes.
That brings the total number of instances of rape attributable to Strauss to 47 and the cases of fondling to 1,429.
The federal law which requires universities to file the crime and safety reports says crimes must be recorded at the time they are reported, not when they occurred.
Ohio State’s new task force to help address sexual misconduct on college campuses include experts, such as the man who leads the clearinghouse for reports of sex abuse in Olympic sports, but no abuse survivors.
The university announced plans for the 10-member panel four months ago, shortly after an investigation concluded Strauss sexually abused young men for nearly two decades while school officials who heard concerns didn’t stop him.
Ohio State says the task force, led by Alan Michaels, dean emeritus of OSU’s Moritz College of Law, will help it and other campuses learn from those findings and prevent abuse. It says survivors will be part of that process.
A few of the 300-plus men alleging misconduct by Strauss have questioned whether the panel’s creation is meaningful action or a public-relations maneuver.
A year-long investigation into the allegations concluded that university personnel at the time had knowledge of complaints and concerns about Strauss’ conduct as early as 1979 but failed to investigate or act meaningfully or report Strauss’ conduct to law enforcement.
Ohio State fired Strauss from his job as and reported him to the State Medical Board but he was allowed to voluntarily retire in 1998 with emeritus status, which was revoked this year.