Twenty-three universities voiced their support in an amicus brief Tuesday for Ohio State’s petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a Title IX case relating to survivors of sexual abuse from former university physician Richard Strauss. Credit: Katie Good | asst. Photo Editor
Twenty-three universities, along with the Association of American Universities, voiced their support in an amicus brief Tuesday for Ohio State’s petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a case on Title IX issues relating to survivors of sexual abuse from former university physician Richard Strauss.
The university filed an appeal with the high court in March, asking the justices to review a decision by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals around who Title IX protections extend to and when the clock starts for its statute of limitations. The universities that signed the brief are asking the Supreme Court to accept the case, stating in the brief that this is an issue of “immense importance to institutions of higher education.”
Amicus briefs are written by individuals or organizations that are not involved in litigation but have a stake in the outcome. These documents can help the court in making a ruling, and in this case, accepting to hear the case.
The 23 universities which signed the brief include the University of Dayton, Bowling Green State University, Cleveland State University and the University of Toledo among Ohio universities. Other universities include the University of Michigan, the University of Florida, Purdue University, the University of Iowa, Stanford and Texas A&M.
“Let stand, the decision below will subject federal funding recipients to near-limitless liability that far exceeds what they agreed to under Title IX,” the brief stated. “It will disincentivize institutions from investigating past wrongdoing in an attempt to prevent future harms. And, ultimately, it will divert critically important resources Title IX recipients otherwise could dedicate to research, teaching, and student support.”
“The 23 supporting schools that joined the amicus brief represent institutions of higher learning from every region of the nation,” university spokesperson Ben Johnson said in an email.
According to its website, Ohio State has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1916. The Association of American Universities, which consists of 65 research universities in the U.S. and Canada, also signed the amicus brief to show its support for Ohio State.
The brief stated extending Title IX protections to anyone on a college campus will overwhelm Title IX offices as well as divert resources from those the statute was put in place to protect.
“As an initial matter, it is difficult to imagine how a funding recipient could possibly fulfill those obligations with respect to virtually ‘anyone who has ever stepped foot on school grounds,’” the brief stated.
The Supreme Court receives approximately 7,000 petitions a year, according to its media guide. Of those, it only hears 100-150 cases. If it rejects the university’s request, the victims can move forward with their lawsuits.
Lawyers of the survivors were unable to be reached for comment at the time of publication.
Strauss was a varsity team sports doctor and physician at the Student Health Center from 1978-1998. An independent investigation in 2019 found that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 students and student-athletes during his tenure, and that university officials were aware of the abuse and failed to prevent or address it.
Strauss died by suicide in 2005.
Since 2018, more than 500 victims of Strauss — nearly all men — have sued the university for failing to address Strauss’ abuse and harassment. Including the most recent settlements in July, 296 victims have settled in exchange for dropping lawsuits against Ohio State for a total amount of $60 million.
The university established the Strauss Individual Settlement Program in 2020 to provide individual settlements to victims involved in five open cases against them.
Of the 80 universities named in the amicus brief and part of the Association of American Universities, 10 had Title IX abuse cases involving university doctors or those working in university affiliated hospitals.
Former Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar pled guilty to 22 counts of criminal sexual conduct of the first degree in 2018. Later that year, more than 100 new victims of Nassar came forward.
The University of Michigan agreed to a $490 million settlement in January with more than 1,000 victims who say they were sexually assaulted by former university doctor Robert Anderson.
Columbia University and its affiliated hospitals paid a $165 million settlement with 147 patients of its former gynecologist Robert Hadden in October 2022, according to the New York Times.
Former Stanford University employee Jennifer Ann Gries was arraigned Monday on charges claiming she fabricated being raped multiple times by a former co-worker, according to The Mercury News.
The University of Southern California paid a $852 million settlement in 2021 after more than 700 women accused the college’s long-time gynecologist of sexual abuse, according to NewsNation.
University of California, Los Angeles’ former gynecologist James Heap was found guilty of 21 counts of sexual assault in May 2021, according to the Daily Bruin. There were more than 500 lawsuits filed against the university and Heaps for UCLA’s treatment of the patients even after it was aware. Three settlements totaling almost $700 million were reached.
The University of Minnesota paid a $162,500 settlement in January to a patient who reported being sexually assaulted by a doctor at the U Medical Center in Minneapolis, according to Star Tribune.
Dr. Kory Gill, who worked with Texas A&M athletes and director of the Primary Care and Sports Medicine Program at the university’s Health Science Center, was fired in February 2022 after he was arrested on two charges of sexual assault from female patients, according to KBTX.
Manuel Lopes Fontes, a former doctor at Yale University, was dismissed in 2021, a year after six women accused him of sexual harassment, although the case was settled. Details were not disclosed, according to the Associated Press.
A former University of Wisconsin doctor Michael Thom was charged in 2019 with second-degree sexual assault and fourth-degree sexual assault for actions against a patient, according to WMTV. New information regarding this case could not be found.
