COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ben Crump, a nationally known civil rights attorney, has filed a lawsuit against Ohio State University on behalf of victims who have made allegations of sexual abuse by former university doctor Richard Strauss.
In a news release Monday afternoon, Crump said victims who believe they were abused or harassed by Strauss while at Ohio State should come forward before May 15.
Crump's lawsuit comes a week after Ohio State announced it would offer an individual settlement program to resolve with some plaintiffs in five outstanding lawsuits against the university regarding abuse by Strauss, an athletics and student health doctor.
Details of the program were still being worked out when it was announced last Monday, but it will be limited to plaintiffs in five specific lawsuits. It would not be available to other actions filed suit more recently.
With the five lawsuits, Ohio State is committed to paying settlements up to an average of about $252,000 per plaintiff, university spokesman Ben Johnson said last week. That figure is the average settlement reached for 185 previous plaintiffs, totaling nearly $47 million in settlements.
“This was a grotesque perversion of power that deeply harmed people’s lives. Every victim deserves justice. It is not for OSU to cherry pick which survivor gets to participate in a settlement program,” Crump said in the release. “Students on athletic scholarships, who are often minorities, have no option but to endure and then report sexual abuse because their educational opportunities are on the line."
The individual settlement program will run for four months and will be administered by Matt Garretson, who also oversaw settlements in May 2020 and October 2020, according to a court filing.
Crump, who is based in Florida but has offices across the country, is also representing the family of Andre Hill. A 47-year-old Black man, Hill was shot and killed by Columbus police officer Adam Coy outside a garage at a Northwest Side home in December 2020.
In 2019, investigators hired by Ohio State concluded that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 students between 1978 and his retirement in 1998, and that university officials repeatedly failed to act.
But at least 360 plaintiffs have filed 23 lawsuits against the university over alleged abuse by Struass and Ohio State’s lack of action. Strauss died by suicide in 2005.
“It is the ultimate responsibility of OSU to protect their students and make this right. OSU failed their students and alumni with their lack of action towards Dr. Strauss over a long period of time when they had plenty of complaints and warning signs that he was sexually abusing hundreds, if not thousands, of young men,” Crump said.
“Telling one group of survivors in the public domain, outside the confidential mediation process, the abuse they suffered has no value revictimizes those they should be trying to help heal. It is apparent to our team that making the settlement program announcement outside the protections of a confidential mediation process is not an attempt to repair the damage done but rather an attempt to selfishly repair OSU’s image."
A request for comment by Ohio State officials was not immediately returned.
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