Dozens of former Ohio State football players are about to sue their Alma Mater claiming they’re also victims of the ongoing sexual assault scandal there.
The claims are centered around OSU Dr. Richard Strauss who served as athletic department doctor from 1979 to 1998 before dying by suicide in 2005.
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News Center 7’s Mike Campbell spoke with the Dayton attorney who will represent a group of former athletes to come forward.
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The first student athletes who came forward a few years ago with details about sexual abuse they encountered and, initially, stayed silent about were members of the school’s wrestling team.
At least 177 have made claims of inappropriate sexual behavior and those claims have since multiplied. Dayton attorney Michael Wright said he is preparing to file another lawsuit on behalf of 60 more athletes — 50 of them who are former football players.
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The school’s been accused of being slow to respond and having many employees that knew of the abuse in the 1980s and ’90s and didn’t say anything.
“I mean absolutely, they’re very concerned about their reputation, they’re very concerned about putting seats in the stands every Saturday. So any potential bad information, any potential scandal, they definitely want to avoid,” Wright said.
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Wright said he hopes the pressure that’s mounting on the school, including Gov. Mike DeWine weighing in on Monday, will force the school to talk with the victims and lay out a plan for giving them some measure of justice.
We’re working to learn more information about this new lawsuit and what it means for the athletes and the university.
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