University president resigns as abuse scandal widens
LOS ANGELES: The president of a top California university resigned in the wake of a growing scandal over a former campus gynaecologist who stands accused of sexually abusing thousands of students over a period of decades.
C.L. Max Nikias’ (pic) departure was announced in a letter by the board of trustees as the University of Southern California was facing multiple new lawsuits on Friday over its alleged failure to act against the physician despite repeated complaints.
The women allege that George Tyndall, who left the university last year, used his position to abuse them repeatedly, conducting improper examinations and groping their breasts.
Rick J. Caruso, the board’s chairman, wrote that it had “agreed to begin an orderly transition and commence the process of selecting a new president”.
“We have heard the message that something is broken and that urgent actions are needed,” he said.
“We will rebuild our culture to reflect an environment in which safety and transparency are of paramount importance, and to institute systemic change that will prevent this from occurring.”
The decision followed a call by two hundred professors demanding Nikias’ resignation.
Two class actions, meanwhile, were submitted at the Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday “on behalf of thousands of female students” who attended the school in Los Angeles and were allegedly sexually abused and illicitly photographed by Tyndall.
The complaints were filed by a team including Howard Janet, the lawyer who led a US$190mil (RM755mil) suit in 2014 against Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital and its physician Nikita Levy.
That settlement was reached on behalf of about 8,500 women whom Levy, who subsequently committed suicide, recorded using a camera hidden in a pen.
“As with the Hopkins case, this case centres on allegations of grossly improper pelvic exams that involved improper probing, at times without gloves, sexually charged remarks and illicit photographing of genitalia,” said Janet.