COLUMBUS – The federal Department of Education has opened an investigation into how the Ohio State has handled accusations of sexual abuse by a now-deceased university physician.
The Cleveland regional office of the department’s Office for Civil Rights, which oversees enforcement of Title IX, is conducting the investigation into allegations against Dr. Richard Strauss made by dozens of former OSU students and student-athletes, university spokesman Chris Davey said.
Straus, who served as a physician in the Department of Athletics from the 1970s to the 1990s, is accused of sexual misconduct by male students and athletes who were members of the football, wrestling and other sports teams.
Strauss committed suicide in 2005.
The federal investigation “will examine whether the university is responding promptly and equitably to complaints and reports by former students, including allegations that employees knew or should have known about the sexual misconduct and allowed the abuse to continue,” Davey wrote in a statement released Thnursday.
“We welcome the involvement and careful oversight of OCR and look forward to providing any information we can,” said Gates Garrity-Rokous, vice president and chief compliance officer for Ohio State. “We responded promptly and appropriately to the allegations received in April about Dr. Strauss. We are confident in the independence and thoroughness of the investigation we launched then as well as our ongoing commitment to transparency.”
Meanwhile, the investigation by the law firm of Perkins Coie announced in April continues and Davey says additional updates are expected at the university’s Board of Trustees meeting later this month.
The university also announced that it has hired the Columbus law firm of Carpenter Lipps and Leland LLP to handle three lawsuits filed against the university by former students who claim to be victims of Strauss and who are accusing university officials of doing nothing to punish Strauss or put a stop to his behavior.