As Strauss victims and students supported statutes of limitations bill, Ohio State lobbied against it

A bill in the Ohio legislature would have allowed victims of Richard Strauss to sue Ohio State. The university worked to block it.

Jeremy Pelzer/cleveland.com via TNS

By Sarah Szilagy

Published April 7, 2022

While Ohio State was publicly silent about legislation to allow victims and survivors of former university physician Richard Strauss to sue the university, its administration worked for months to prevent the bill from making it to the Ohio House of Representatives’ floor.

A Lantern investigation found that the university’s Office of Government Affairs led a coordinated effort to block House Bill 249, legislation introduced in May 2019 to waive the statute of limitations on civil sexual abuse cases for the victims of Strauss. Administrators called and met with state representatives, helped other organizations draft testimony against the bill and asked legislators to not allow a committee vote on the bill.

The university never made a public statement about the bill, even when asked by reporters.

“The university is actively participating in good faith in the mediation process directed by the federal court,” university spokesperson Ben Johnson told The Lantern in October 2019.

But emails, letters and other records obtained by The Lantern show that as the university avoided commenting on the bill, it lobbied lawmakers against it. In fact, the university lobbied against the bill even as the Vice President for Government Affairs Stacy Rastauskas wrote to members of the Ohio House Civil Justice Committee that the university was “unable to take a position” on the proposed law as it continued mediation with victims.

Less than two weeks later, on Sept. 23, 2019, former University President Michael V. Drake met with then-Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder to “discuss HB 249,” emails stated. A copy of Drake’s briefing for the meeting included talking points such as the university’s graduation rate and affordability but focused on the bill. Drake intended to tell Householder the bill could negatively affect mediation.

“We would respectfully ask that no additional hearings occur on HB 249 and that the bill not move out of committee as we are striving to arrive at resolution and redress with survivors in mediation,” the briefing stated in bold font. 

The next day, the House Civil Justice Committee struck the possible vote on the bill from the meeting scheduled for Sept. 25, 2019.

University spokesperson Ben Johnson said in an email the university disclosed its lobbying as required by the state, but it didn’t want to publicly state its position on the bill and potentially “impede the mediation process.”

“Throughout the investigation, mediation and court proceedings related to Richard Strauss, Ohio State has been committed to supporting survivors, achieving a fair monetary resolution, and acknowledging both Strauss’ abuse and the university’s failure at the time to prevent it,” Johnson said.

According to a database of lobbying forms on the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee website, the university lobbied against H.B. 249 from May 2019 to December 2020.

The Ohio House voted to expel Householder in June 2021 due to federal corruption charges he faces. His attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.

Drake, who is the president of University of California, declined to comment.

The bill carved out an exception to Ohio’s two-year statute of limitations on civil sexual abuse cases for victims of Strauss, a varsity team sports doctor and physician at the Student Health Center from 1978-98. An independent investigation found that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 students during his tenure and that university officials failed to address his abuse.

Strauss died by suicide in 2005.

More than 530 victims have sued the university since 2018 despite the state’s statute of limitations — leading to a federal court dismissing the remaining claims in September 2021. Several men testified at the bill’s hearings about their abuse and the impact it had on their lives, urging representatives to pass the bill.

One such victim was Steve Snyder-Hill, who was assaulted by Strauss at the health center in 1995 and filed a written complaint about it at the time. He said since the bill was introduced, he suspected the university lobbied against it.

“There’s a point where you just get calloused, and you’re just like, ‘I’m expecting it. I expect it anymore,’ ” Snyder-Hill said. “And that’s kind of where it’s gotten; it’s that I don’t expect them to tell the truth. I don’t expect them to be integritous. I don’t expect them to be transparent.”

He wasn’t the only survivor to believe the university was trying to block the bill.

In an email to the Ohio State Board of Trustees in November 2019, survivors requesting time for Strauss victims to speak with the Board at its upcoming meeting accused the university of “secretly lobbying” against the bill.

“OSU is using the statute of limitations as a liability shield and, with no progress being made, continues to insist it will do something during mediation to stop the legislature from having to vote on HB 249,” the email stated.

The Lantern filed a public records request Sept. 27, 2021, for all correspondence — including emails, email attachments and memos — among Ohio State’s Office of Government Affairs employees or anyone working on behalf of the office regarding H.B. 249 or Strauss from May 6, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2020. 

Ohio State’s Public Records Office asked The Lantern to specify which university employees to include in the request and said asking for internal and external correspondence about Strauss was “extremely broad.” Public Records accepted a revised request that named several members of the Office of Government Affairs, Drake’s office and University President Kristina M. Johnson’s office and limited the subject to H.B. 249.

Nearly six months later, The Lantern received a copy of the redacted records March 22.

The records show that as early as August 2019, the university put its opposition to the bill in writing. A Government Affairs report prepared for that month’s Board of Trustees meeting included the bill in a section on state legislation to watch.

“Multiple bills dealing prospectively with extending or removing statutes of limitations on sex-related offenses have been introduced,” the report stated. “HB 249 is specific to Ohio State University and is retroactively applied. The university is opposed to the proposal in its current form.”

By that time, records indicate members of the Office of Government Affairs — mainly Rastauskas and Associate Vice President for State Relations Brian Perera — had already met with organizations about the bill.

According to emails, Rastauskas and Perera met with the Ohio Alliance for Civil Justice, an organization whose members include representatives from the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio State Medical Association, the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association and other organizations, at least twice regarding the bill.

The Ohio Alliance for Civil Justice was the only entity that testified as an “interested party” in opposition of the bill Sept. 10, 2019. According to emails, Rastauskas and Perera offered support and suggestions to Kevin Shimp, director of labor and legal affairs at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, regarding his testimony.

In a Sept. 1, 2019, email, Perera gave Shimp several “items of general concern” about the bill, including the delay of mediation, the retroactive nature of the bill and potential distortion of the insurance market. Shimp included several of Perera’s points in his testimony, which he sent to Perera the day before the hearing.

Shimp did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Snyder-Hill said he attended the hearing at which Shimp testified. He said he was not surprised to learn that Ohio State helped Shimp write his testimony — he thought as much when he heard it.

“It just goes to show what they’re like,” Snyder-Hill said. “Like, ‘We’ll say something and we’ll act like we don’t have a stance or we can’t have a stance, but then we’ll send in our minion to do this.’ ”

Shimp wasn’t supposed to be the only person testifying against the bill on behalf of the university, according to the records. Rastauskas and Perera also met with the Inter-University Council of Ohio, the council of the state’s 14 public universities, about the bill.

Rastauskas sent Bruce Johnson, president of the Inter-University Council, a draft of the testimony he was set to give at a Civil Justice Committee hearing.

Like Shimp’s testimony, the testimony the university prepared for the Inter-University Council touched on the retroactive nature of the bill and its narrow scope.

“Instead of arguing over unconstitutional retroactive legislation, we should focus our efforts on preventing anything like this from ever happening again,” the unused testimony reads. “In the more than 20 years since Strauss worked at Ohio State, Ohio’s universities have made, and will continue to make, significant changes in adressing sexual misconduct and abuse.”

Bruce Johnson declined to comment.

Rastauskas, Perera and other administrators in the Office of Government Affairs referred The Lantern to Ben Johnson for comment.

Ben Johnson said in an email the university spoke “with elected officials, interested parties and other civic partners” regarding the bill, as it typically does with legislation relevant to the university. He did not provide a reason for why Bruce Johnson never testified.

Marcus Horton | Web Editor

Marcus Horton | Web Editor

Seitz said he “certainly” spoke with the Office of Government Affairs about the bill but did not specify when or how frequently.

Neither Cupp nor Aaron Mulvey, the Ohio House’s majority press secretary, responded to requests for comment.

Although not included in the records, Rep. Michael Skindell (D-Lakewood) said in an email he remembered meeting with Office of Government Affairs employees one or two times while H.B. 249 was pending but couldn’t recall whether they expressed specific opinions on the legislation. Rep. Jeff Crossman (D-Parma) said he couldn’t recall whether he met with Perera but reasserted his belief in removing the statute of limitations for all victims.

Whether Perera and other Government Affairs employees met with the other committee members is unclear. Reps. Tavia Galonski (D-Akron), Paula Hicks-Hudson (D-Toledo), Jamie Callender (R-Concord), Laura Lanese (R-Grove City) and Brett Hillyer (R-Uhrichsville) and former Rep. James Butler of Oakwood did not respond to requests for comment. 

Hillyer — the bill’s sponsor — is the current chair of the Civil Justice Committee, with Rep. Diane Grendell (R-Chesterland) as vice chair and Galonski as ranking minority member. Seitz, Crossman, Skindell and Brown also remain on the committee.

After holding a fifth hearing on the bill at the end of September 2019, the Civil Justice Committee was silent on the bill for the rest of the year. During that time, partially redacted emails indicate the Office of Government Affairs met with some members of the Undergraduate Student Government about the bill.

In October 2019, USG unanimously passed a resolution calling for the university to support the bill. The university’s comment to The Lantern at the time did not address the bill directly but said the university was “actively participating in good faith in the mediation process.”

The Civil Justice Committee held its sixth hearing on the bill Feb. 11, 2020. No amendments were introduced. Only three witnesses testified — two Strauss victims and a lobbier in favor of the bill.

It was the bill’s last hearing.

Seitz said the bill never made it out of committee because it “served its purpose” by applying pressure on the university to settle.

“We’re not about to start lifting the statute of limitations for things that happened 30 and 40 years ago,” Seitz said in a voicemail. “It’s very hard for people to remember what happened two years ago, let alone 30.”

In May 2020, the university announced its first round of settlements with 162 victims for $40.9 million. At the time of publication, the university has settled with 232 victims for a total of $57.8 million.

Aside from emails tracking the Civil Justice Committee meeting schedule, there is a gap in records from February until Perera emailed several people in July 2020 to put together a Government Affairs report for the August 2020 full Board meeting. Included in a section on state “wins” is a brief statement on ”allowing the formal mediation process to work” by “preventing passage” of the bill.

One of the last mentions of H.B. 249 is in a briefing for a meeting with the co-chairs of the President’s Advisory Committee on Government Affairs. It was scheduled to take place Dec. 4, 2020, and Kristina Johnson’s briefing touched on several of the Office of Government Affairs’ accomplishments.

“Though Ohio House leadership had indicated they intended to move the bill in February, the Office of Government Affairs (sic) direct advocacy, coupled (with) assistance from our advisory committee prevented the bill from moving out of committee,” the briefing reads.

Snyder-Hill is one of about 100 victims who have appealed a federal judge’s dismissal of their lawsuits against the university. 

After Seitz told a survivor in October 2021 that the bill was never intended to pass, and after learning of the university’s lobbying efforts against it, Snyder-Hill said he feels betrayed by both the university and the legislature.

He said it reminds him of his experience reporting his assault to Ted Grace, Strauss’ boss at the health center. Grace promised him in writing that no one else had ever complained about Strauss’ behavior.

In 2020, Snyder-Hill filed a public records complaint against the university for withholding a copy of that letter and other records he requested until after the independent investigation was released.

A special master sided with Snyder-Hill, and the university admitted to intentionally withholding the records.

There is a bill in the Ohio legislature that would waive the statute of limitations for civil and criminal rape cases and extend the time for victims of child sexual abuse to come forward. As currently written, it likely wouldn’t apply to Snyder-Hill or other Strauss victims, who have sued the university for violating Title IX.

That’s why Snyder-Hill and other survivors continue to contact and meet with legislators more than two years after H.B. 249 died in committee. He said they’re determined to keep fighting for statutes of limitations reforms — and for their own ability to sue.

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