Ohio State ends Strauss-related sex abuse lawsuit, recommends firing a professor over journalist attack

The Ohio State University is trying to fix its problems — and its reputation — by settling dozens of former students who accused former university physician Richard Strauss of abuse and recommending the firing of a professor who slammed a journalist to the ground.

The university and the people abused by Strauss reached a $100 million settlement agreement, with only one person not agreeing to the proposed deal, according to NBC 4.

The settlement came after the survivors sued OSU, alleging that the university officials failed to prevent the abuse of more than 500 former students. Most of the students who were allegedly assaulted were athletes, many of whom became National Football League stars and a fire chief.

“Ohio State and 279 of the 280 individual remaining Richard Strauss survivors involved in the pending litigation have reached settlements in principle in a total amount of $100 million,” a university spokesperson told the news source.

The settlement came after the university officials said that they wanted to dismiss approximately a third of the Strauss-related sex abuse cases.

“The university’s Board of Trustees has now publicly ratified these agreements in principle, and all parties thank the mediators for their assistance,” the university spokesperson told the Columbus television station. “The mediation and its confidentiality are continuing as the parties work to finalize the details of the settlements, and additional information will be shared as appropriate.”

OSU President Ravi Bellamkonda said the Strauss survivors “will always be a part of our family and our community,” according to The Columbus Dispatch.

“We continue to be very grateful to them for their courage in coming forward – and reaching a final resolution was very important to us as an important step forward,” he told the publication.

The court appointed a special master who will interview each of the over 200 men involved in litigation to determine how much each person should be paid.

An anonymous source allegedly told NBC 4 that at least one of the five plaintiff groups didn’t want to settle because the victims wanted OSU to accept responsibility for what happened. Even though the trial date was already scheduled for October, all five plaintiff groups decided to settle with the university.

“The thing that we get to live with is that OSU is guilty. There’s a documentary that says they’re guilty,” Strauss survivor Steve Snyder-Hill told NBC 4. “Our case will be quoted. And every time that somebody sues for Title IX, and if the school covered it up, it’ll use our cases as to the ability to get through. So that is a win. To me, I think that those things were our victory.”

Meanwhile, Ohio State University’s Sanctioning Committee members have concluded in their investigation that Luke Perez, an assistant professor who is affiliated with Ohio State’s Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society, attacked a Columbus-based independent journalist who was trying to ask former university president E. Gordon Gee a question earlier this year, should be fired, according to another report by The Dispatch.

In its findings, the panel called Perez’s actions “the most egregious incident of workplace violence they had investigated,” adding that they “found sufficient evidence that Dr. Perez’s actions constituted workplace violence.”

After the attack, Perez was put on administrative leave and charged with assault.

The attack was filmed by DJ Byrnes, a local left-wing political blogger who writes a newsletter called “The Rooster.” Byrnes is currently in legal trouble himself, since he was arrested outside the Ohio Statehouse and charged with harassment, according to Signal Ohio.