COLUMBUS, OHIO, USA, October 15, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Sexual abuse survivors who are fed up with Ohio State’s continued inaction on the Richard Strauss case are now calling on the NCAA and Big Ten to investigate the university and step in to create an educational environment which better protects students from predators.

“The call for NCAA and Big Ten sanctions is not unprecedented,” OSU sexual abuse survivor Michael Schyck said.

“In 2012, the NCAA fined Penn State $60 million for covering up Coach Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse and the Big Ten fined them $13 million,” Schyck said. “We’re asking them to do the same thing for us. But I think OSU’s fine should be for much more money than that because OSU allowed many more students to be harmed and, incredibly, the cover-up went on for two decades.”

Letters calling for the establishment of a Victims’ Compensation Fund and demanding that Ohio State be sanctioned were emailed to NCAA and Big Ten officials on October 14th.

A copy of the Perkins Coie Report that was commissioned by Ohio State was attached to the emails. That report identified nearly 200 male students and student-athletes who were sexually abused by Dr. Strauss over a 20-year period beginning in 1979. Survivors now believe there are nearly 1,500 victims as a result of Ohio State’s deliberate inaction.

Several of the young men were brutally raped and their stories were also included in the NCAA/Big Ten letters.

Strauss Survivor and former OSU Track and Field athlete Mike Murphy added: “I’m an OSU guy, and I want to see OSU shining and bright. I discouraged my children to attend Ohio State because I couldn’t trust they’d be safe there, and that hurt. I want to see the university living up to its ideals, and today’s appeal to the NCAA and Big 10 is in service of that goal.”

The letter to the NCAA also asks that NCAA board chairman Michael Drake be recused from any discussions involving OSU since Drake, the former president of Ohio State, has not lived up to his promise to “take care of” Strauss’ victims.

“Survivors of Dr. Richard Strauss have been told over and over again that they would be taken care of and that OSU would take their claims seriously,” Scott Smith, an attorney for survivors in the Snyder-Hill v. OSU action said. “Ohio State has done nothing but stall, delay and deliver empty promises while taking active efforts to have survivor cases thrown out of court. They have had enough of this double speak. It is high time for the NCAA and Big 10 to get involved.”

Strauss survivors are asking supporters to sign a petition to the NCAA & Big Ten Conference at: https://www.change.org/p/ncaa-request-ncaa-big-ten-conference-investigate-ohio-state-sexual-abuse-cover-up

The letters to the NCAA and Big Ten Conference can be viewed at: https://osumetoo.com/osu-ncaa-big-ten-investigation/

EDWARD J VASQUEZ
EJV Communications
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Press conference announcing a request of the NCAA & Big Ten Conference investigation