COLUMBUS (AP) — Thirty-seven former Ohio State athletes, including over two dozen football players, have filed a new lawsuit alleging the university disregarded concerns about a team doctor who sexually abused young men for years.
The federal lawsuit filed Wednesday comes after an investigation concluded Richard Strauss abused at least 177 young men between 1979 and 1997.
The new case echoes claims from dozens of alumni in other lawsuits and identifies only one plaintiff by name: ex-wrestler Michael DiSabato, whose allegations helped prompt the investigation. He declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The athletes’ lawyer, Michael Wright, says he agrees with university President Michael Drake’s statement that there was an “institutional failure.”
Drake has publicly apologized.
Strauss retired in 1998 and died in 2005. No one has publicly defended him.