Ohio State Settles With Nearly 300 Strauss Victims

Ohio State University agreed last week to pay $100 million to hundreds of former students who accused a university doctor of sexual assault and sued the institution, The Athletic and other media outlets reported.

The university has previously reached six other settlements with more than 300 students, totaling $61 million. This latest agreement is with 280 people and is expected to end the legal battle between the students and the university, The Athletic reported.

Former student athletes said in 2018 that the doctor, Richard Strauss, sexually assaulted them. A university investigation later found that Strauss, who died in 2005, sexually abused 177 male students. He worked as a university physician at OSU from 1978 to 1998.

“The survivors of the Strauss abuse are all Buckeyes, will always be a part of our family and our community, and I firmly believe that,” OSU president Ravi Bellamkonda said in a statement. “We continue to be very grateful to them for their courage in coming forward, and reaching a final resolution is very important to us and is an important step forward.”