COLUMBUS – A committee of Ohio State University trustees has voted to revoke the emeritus status of a team doctor found to have sexually abused young men throughout his two decades there.
Updated 5/30/19 3:28 p.m.
The full board of trustees could vote Friday on canceling the mark of distinguished service for Richard Strauss, who died in 2005.
It would be a symbolic rebuke, removing only an honorary label, but Provost Bruce McPheron says it would correct the record on Strauss. McPheron says Ohio State has never before stripped someone of emeritus status.
The action comes a day after 37 former athletes, including over two dozen football players, filed a new lawsuit alleging the university disregarded concerns about Strauss.
The latest lawsuit, filed in federal court Wednesday, echoes claims from dozens of alumni in other lawsuits and identifies only one plaintiff by name: ex-wrestler Michael DiSabato, whose allegations helped prompt the investigation. He declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The athletes’ lawyer, Michael Wright, says he agrees with university President Michael Drake’s statement that there was an “institutional failure.”
Drake has publicly apologized.
The State Medical Board had a confidential investigation involving Strauss but never disciplined him. A state panel tasked with reviewing the handling of that old case began its work Thursday. Its findings are due Aug. 1.
Strauss retired in 1998. No one has publicly defended him.