Betrayal of trust 368 youth gymnasts 20 years 115 Adults

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We investigated Nassar abuse of gymnasts. Here's how to make sure it never happens again.

Senators: Nassar survivors' courage should inspire passage of our proposals to empower athletes and fix the broken institutions meant to protect them.

We stood in the Russell Senate Office Building last year with more than 80 courageous survivors of sexual abuse by former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar. Some of these women had been assaulted by Nassar while competing at the Olympics, some while training with the national team, others while attending Michigan State University. One by one, they told us the organizations that were supposed to protect them had failed them.

Nassar committed his criminal sexual conduct by himself, but his unimaginable abuse could have and should have been stopped earlier by powerful people who chose not to act. Multiple institutions responsible for keeping amateur athletes safe, including the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Gymnastics (USAG) and Michigan State University (MSU) repeatedly failed to act on credible reports against Nassar. Their inaction allowed Nassar to continue assaulting his patients with impunity.

Nassar was ultimately sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for his heinous crimes. But the fight to overhaul a system that had allowed him to evade justice and accountability was far from over.

Dysfunctional systems enabled Nassar

For the past few years, we have been determined to change this pattern of gross institutional failure. As chairman and ranking member of the Senate Commerce subcommittee with jurisdiction over the health and safety of U.S. Olympic athletes, we have been honored to work side-by-side with these remarkable athletes, survivors and advocates to prevent future athletes from enduring this kind of abuse.

We are releasing the findings of our investigation Tuesday and introducing the Empowering Olympic and Amateur Athletes Act to ensure that an investigation like ours is never needed again.

A voice for all victims: It's not right to only hear the voices of some Nassar survivors

Our investigation had two goals from the start. First, we wanted to understand the alarming and dysfunctional systems that allowed Nassar to thrive. Why did officials at the U.S. Olympics Committee, USA Gymnastics, MSU and the FBI ignore evidence of Nassar’s sexual misconduct? How was he allowed to continue treating athletes for years after these institutions received complaints? Second, we wanted to take what we learned and craft legislation that would help protect and empower amateur athletes going forward.

Culture of abuse in amateur sports

Over the past 18 months, we engaged with athletes and sexual abuse survivors in a wide range of sports — including wrestling, figure skating and tae kwon do. We dug into the way these sporting bodies and the U.S. Olympic Committee operate — reviewing and analyzing tens of thousands of pages of documentary evidence.

We held public hearings on the culture of abuse in amateur sports, and subpoenaed leaders who tried to evade accountability for their failure to protect athletes.

Nassar was left unchecked: So many missed chances to stop Nassar, so many people at fault

During the course of our work, we uncovered damning evidence showing misconduct by leaders at the Olympics committee, USA Gymnastics and MSU. As a result, we referred the former USOC CEO to the Department of Justice for lying to Congress. His account of his actions to our subcommittee was inconsistent with the findings of USOC’s independent investigators.

Former U.S. national team gymnasts at a Senate hearing on June 5, 2018.
Former U.S. national team gymnasts at a Senate hearing on June 5, 2018. (Photo: Jack Gruber/USA TODAY)
Our investigation concluded that coaches and powerful individuals within the Olympic movement were able to assault athletes of all ages because of a lack of oversight and transparency.

Repeatedly, institutions failed to act aggressively to report wrongdoing to proper law enforcement agencies. Repeatedly, men and women entrusted with positions of power prioritized their own reputation or the reputation of a national governing body over the health and safety of the athletes. Repeatedly, USOC, USAG and other NGBs took actions to conceal their negligence and failed to enact serious reforms, even after they were faced with the courageous accounts of survivors. And, repeatedly, athletes were left in harm’s way.

Athletes and accountability first

Our legislation would change that and empower and protect Olympic and amateur athletes through three key reforms:

►Implement a culture in which athletes and their best interests are put first. This includes new reporting requirements for adults with knowledge of any allegation of child abuse of an amateur athlete, and increased protections for survivors from retaliation. It also mandates higher representation of amateur athletes on the boards of the USOC and other national governing bodies.

►Ensure greater transparency and accountability throughout the amateur sports movement. This includes giving Congress the ability to fire the USOC board of directors. USOC would be required to maintain a public list of all barred coaches and individuals, so that these predators may not slyly manipulate their way back into amateur sports. Most important, this legislation clarifies that USOC and the national governing bodies owe a duty of care to amateur athletes to keep promoting a safe environment in sports.

The backdoor deals: Nassar case shows predatory power of secret settlements

►Fortify the independence and capabilities of the U.S. Center for SafeSport, the body responsible for investigating allegations of sexual abuse against athletes and coaches. It would prevent anyone affiliated with USOC or the national governing bodies to work for or interfere with SafeSport’s investigations, and require USOC to spend $20 million per year on center operations.

As we have written in our report, we have been moved by the incredible courage of the survivors of abuse who have shared their stories with us and the world. We draw strength and motivation from their unwavering commitment to work with Congress to prevent the abuse of any young athlete in the future, and thank them for putting their trust in us. We are officially one year out from the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, and we will get this bill across the finish line — for them, and for all future athletes, so that they may be able to participate in the sport they love without fear of abuse.

Republican Jerry Moran is a senator from Kansas. Democrat Richard Blumenthal is a senator from Connecticut. Follow them on Twitter: @JerryMoran and @SenBlumenthal
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/ ... 852988001/

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Michigan State University Fined $4.5 Million in Nassar Case
ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 5, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department is fining Michigan State University $4.5 million for failing to respond to sexual assault complaints against Dr. Larry Nassar.


Larry Nassar enters the courtroom on Jan. 31, 2018, during the first day of victim impact statements in Charlotte, Mich. (Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal via AP)
That announcement comes from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who says the university’s failure to act created a “sexually hostile environment.”

DeVos says the school also has agreed to take corrective action to protect its students.

Nassar is a former sports doctor at Michigan State who also worked at USA Gymnastics. He’s serving effective life sentences for possessing child pornography and molesting young athletes.

DeVos says the university did not adequately respond to complaints against Nassar and his supervisor, William Strampel. She says any school that fails to uphold its responsibility to students will be held accountable.

Michigan State did not have an immediate comment.

By COLLIN BINKLEY and CAROLE FELDMAN Associated Press
https://www.courthousenews.com/michigan ... ssar-case/

Rep. Jim Jordan Is Named in New OSU Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
A new class action lawsuit on behalf of former athletes has named the Ohio congressman for failing to prevent sexual abuse perpetrated by a university doctor

Bob Moser July 18, 2018 10:08AM ET

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, questions FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok during the House Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform hearing on "Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election," on Capitol Hill, in WashingtonTrump Russia Probe Congress, Washington, USA - 12 Jul 2018
Evan Vucci/AP/REX/Shutterstock
In the two weeks since former Ohio State wrestlers began to make public allegations about being repeatedly molested and assaulted by team doctor Richard Strauss, Congressman Jim Jordan – who spent eight years as an assistant wrestling coach at the school – has repeatedly claimed any suggestion that he was previously aware of the abuse is “fake news.” As I wrote here on Monday, the former wrestlers, who say Jordan knew they were being abused and took no action to stop it, have been slandered repeatedly by the congressman and his reflexive right-wing defenders – including accusations that the former wrestlers are part of either a “deep state” conspiracy or paid for by the Democratic Party to take down the powerful founder of the House Freedom Caucus. President Trump and several members of Congress, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have leapt to Jordan’s defense, claiming he’s just not the kind of guy who would sit idly by while his wrestlers were preyed upon.

On Tuesday, Jordan’s public-relations crisis became a legal nightmare. Attorneys filed a massive class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Ohio against Ohio State University on behalf of an as-yet-unnamed former OSU wrestler. The law firm Sauder Schelkopf is seeking to represent all the students and athletes “treated” by Strauss in his two decades at the school, from the late ‘70s to the late ‘90s – a number they estimate will amount to “at least 1,500.”

Jordan, the jut-jawed Republican and anti-gay crusader in the House, is singled out in the suit: He’s one of only three former school officials named, including Strauss, though the action is aimed at all the coaches, administrators and others in positions of responsibility at OSU who, it claims, stood by while students and student-athletes were repeatedly “sexually abused, harassed, and molested,” and “forced” to seek treatment from a well-known predator even after they complained. (Strauss was the sole team doctor for the wrestlers; the men say they either had to choose to let injuries go untreated, as the lawsuit says some did, or subject themselves to yet another assault.)

The lead plaintiff, “John Doe,” says he was groped, assaulted and molested at least 20 times. The other wrestlers have told reporters how Strauss allegedly used any excuse to make them expose themselves and grope them, and the lawsuit adds some sickening details:

“On one occasion, Plaintiff suffered a rib injury while wrestling and made an appointment to see Dr. Strauss for treatment. Dr. Strauss instructed Plaintiff to drop his pants so he could examine Plaintiff’s scrotum for a hernia. Plaintiff was young and believed that Dr. Strauss’ actions were medically necessary, but felt violated and helpless.”

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Strauss also took photographs of the men he was forcing to disrobe unnecessarily. It describes how he “regularly touched students’ genitals and breast areas, often at the same time, regularly measured students’ scrotums, all for the purpose of his own sexual arousal and gratification, and for no legitimate medical purpose and for no other reason than to satisfy his own sexual desires.” You can read the lawsuit here in its entirety.

So far, as more former wrestlers, including UFC champion Mark Coleman, have stepped out and told their stories, Jordan has wielded his mastery of right-wing media to try and inoculate himself against this career-threatening scandal. The congressman managed to contain the fallout from an eerily similar revelation last November, when one of his longtime Washington aides and protégées, Ohio state Rep. Wesley Goodman, was publicly unmasked as one of the capitol city’s most notorious sexual predators, stalking and abusing at least 30 young conservative men he promised to “mentor.” This was huge news in Ohio, but was buried nationally beneath the daily drumbeat of Trump atrocities.

The Goodman scandal alone could have been enough to force Jordan out of Congress. In April, Elizabeth Esty, a Democratic representative from Connecticut, had to resign because she kept a former chief of staff on her payroll for three months after another former aide accused him of harassment. The well-documented accusations against Goodman are much, much broader. He reportedly harassed or assaulted at least 30 young men. Jordan adamantly denied that he had any knowledge of Goodman’s notorious reputation – just as he’s now claiming, against the word of his ex-wrestlers, that he had no clue that Strauss (who committed suicide in 2005) was groping the athletes.

In recent public comments on the allegations, Jordan appeared to be banking on his former wrestlers’ silence and shame. But if he believed he could humiliate them back into submission, he was sorely mistaken. At least nine have spoken out so far. Dozens more will almost certainly be telling their stories in criminal and civil court along with Strauss’ hundreds of other alleged victims from 13 Ohio State teams. (A separate lawsuit was filed by four former wrestlers on Monday; this one didn’t call out Jordan by name, but he will almost certainly become involved if the case goes forward.)

Back home, where Jordan’s political future will be determined, local media are determined not to let him slide. “No more denials. Jim Jordan must acknowledge what he knew,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer editorialized this past weekend. Jordan has made it clear, though, that the truth will have to be pried out of him. (He says he is cooperating with independent investigators hired by Ohio State, though what he tells them may never become public.) If either or both of these lawsuits lands him in court, it will be.

Editor’s Note: This story has been revised to reflect a pair of corrections. Rep. Jim Jordan is not a member of Republican leadership in the House and the earliest accusations that Wesley Goodman harassed or assaulted young men took place two years after Goodman left Jordan’s office.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... te-700578/

Apropos of probably nothing but this is in the news now as well regarding OSU:

The Ohio State University wants to trademark its favorite word: ‘The’

Ohio State is serious about calling itself “The” Ohio State University. The grammatical article is right there on many of the school’s seal, logos and signs. Now the university has gotten so serious about that three-letter word that it has sought to trademark it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2 ... rite-word/

More than 300 people accuse former Ohio State doctor of sex abuse
Ohio State has acknowledged its "fundamental failure" to prevent abuse by Richard Strauss, apologized publicly to the survivors.

Aug. 23, 2019, 12:58 PM CDT
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Lawyers for men suing Ohio State University over decades-old alleged sexual misconduct by a team doctor say the growing number of accusers has topped 300.

Totals confirmed to The Associated Press put the group's size in the same ballpark as the initial wave of plaintiffs who got $425 million from Michigan State University to settle claims related to Larry Nassar, the now-imprisoned gymnastics doctor accused of molesting hundreds of women and girls.

Of the 300-plus men in the Ohio State matter, some still plan to sue and more than half already are listed plaintiffs in federal lawsuits alleging school officials knew of concerns about the late doctor, Richard Strauss, during his tenure but did little to stop him.

Image: Richard Strauss
The 1978 employment application information for Dr. Richard Strauss, from Ohio State University's personnel files.Ohio State University via AP
"This is, from our perspective, aside from the Catholic Church, one of the biggest sexual misconduct cases in the country," attorney Michael Wright said Friday.

Wright said his legal team is representing over 100 men, most of them former football players and other Buckeye athletes who say they were sexually abused by Strauss. Many of those aren't among the 177 men who provided firsthand accounts of sexual abuse by Strauss to the law firm that began investigating allegations for the university last year, Wright said.

Many of the men who have publicly recounted their experiences, including the ex-wrestler who spurred the investigation, allege they were fondled during medical exams. Their claims span 1979 to 1997 — nearly all of Strauss' Ohio State career — and include Strauss' work with the athletic department, the student health center and his off-campus men's clinic.

Michael DiSabato, right, speaks with other victims of former Ohio State team doctor Dr. Richard Strauss, at the university's board meeting on Nov. 16, 2018, in Columbus.Adam Cairns / The Columbus Dispatch via AP file
The investigating firm, Perkins Coie, didn't proactively reach out to possible victims, citing concern for potentially retraumatizing them. But the list of accusers has continued to grow as Ohio State publicized the investigation, alumni began sharing stories, and lawyers for the initial plaintiffs advertised a push to hold the university accountable.

The lawsuits against Ohio State are now in mediation toward a potential settlement. The lawyers involved won't publicly discuss the negotiations.

Ohio State has acknowledged its "fundamental failure" to prevent abuse by Strauss, apologized publicly to the survivors and said it is committed to the mediation process.

The investigation and the related litigation have cost the university about $7.8 million so far, spokesman Ben Johnson said.

No one has publicly defended the doctor, who killed himself in 2005. In a statement after the investigation findings were shared in May, Strauss' family offered condolences to the abuse survivors.

Strauss retired from the university in 1998 with emeritus status, an honorary label revoked this year by school trustees.

The State Medical Board had an investigation involving Strauss near the end of his Ohio State career but never disciplined him, and the details have remained confidential. A state panel tasked with reviewing the handling of that old case has yet to report its findings.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mo ... e-n1045836