China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Professors call for USC president to quit over accusations against campus doctor
Two hundred faculty members at the University of Southern California have called on school President Max Nikias to step down following accusations of sexual misconduct against a former physician at the school’s student health center.
In a letter to the school’s board of trustees, the faculty members said that he had “lost the moral authority to lead” in the wake of revelations that a campus gynecologist was kept on staff for decades despite repeated complaints of misconduct, the Los Angeles Times and NBC reported.
The faculty members from 14 different schools within the university said that they had come together to “express our outrage and disappointment over the mounting evidence of President Nikias’ failure to protect our students, our staff, and our colleagues from repeated and pervasive sexual harassment and misconduct.” The letter said: “We call upon President Nikias to step aside, and upon the Board of Trustees to restore moral leadership to the university.”
USC issued a statement from Nikias in response on Tuesday. “I understand the faculty’s anger and frustration. I have always encouraged our faculty to express their views and opinions on issues of critical importance,” the statement reads. “They are core to the mission of this university and I am grateful for their contributions to the action plan we released today. I am committed to working with them as we implement this wide-reaching plan and to rebuilding their trust. We all deeply care about this university and we all need to work together to change the culture.”
On Tuesday, Nikias sent the campus community a 20-page action plan that he said was prepared at the request of trustees, according to the Times. It called for a wide rethinking of university ethics that will include a rewriting of USC’s Code of Ethics and a new presidential commission on improving campus culture.
USC Board of Trustees Chairman John Mork earlier released a statement saying he and others on its executive committee “strongly support” Nikias.
There have been calls for Nikias’ ouster on social media and in an online petition circulated by alumni since the Times last week detailed USC’s handling of complaints about gynecologist Dr George Tyndall.
The online petition started on May 17 by Rini Sampath, who graduated from USC in 2016, had more than 2,500 signatures as of Tuesday.
Sampath said she wanted to see accountability at USC. “First and foremost, I want to see Nikias removed from office,” Sampath told China Daily. “I also want the school administration and the Board of Trustees to launch a full investigation to see who else was involved in the cover-up of the scandal itself and figure out how we can hold them responsible.”
A Times report on May 16 revealed that Tyndall, 71, was accused by co-workers of exhibiting “creepy behaviors” toward female patients, including inappropriately photographing their genitals and touching them inappropriately during pelvic exams.
The Times quoted former colleagues alleging that Tyndall targeted young women, especially those from China and other Asian countries, for exams that included inappropriate touching and lewd remarks about patients’ sex lives and bodies.
There are more than 5,400 overseas Chinese students (out of an enrollment close to 44,000 at the private university in Los Angeles), more than from any other foreign country.
China Daily spoke to some Chinese students on the USC campus Tuesday.
Xiaoying Pan, a doctoral candidate in civil engineering, said although each freshman needs to take mandatory online training about sexual assault prevention and campus safety, school leaders should open access for student to make complaints if things happen.
Simone Shao, a first-year graduate student, said female Chinese student victims probably think it’s hard to express themselves and fight for their rights here.
Zoe Zhang, who graduated from USC in 2017, said she chose to wait until a female doctor was available when she had her first gynecological exam at the USC Engemann Student Health Center last year.
“Girls need to choose a female doctor, even if it means waiting for a few more days. If you see a male doctor, you should ensure a female nurse is in the same examination room with you. There’s no need to put oneself in a risky situation,” she said.
The Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles issued a public statement expressing “serious concerns” about USC’s handling of the matter after the university admitted that the gynecologist continued working at the school.
In the statement, the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles asked USC to “deal with the case in a serious manner, conduct an immediate investigation and take concrete measures to protect the Chinese students and scholars on campus from being harmed”.
On Monday, six women filed civil lawsuits alleging that Tyndall sexually victimized them under the pretext of medical care and that USC failed to address complaints from clinic staff about the doctor’s behavior.
Tyndall, who worked at USC for 30 years, denied any wrongdoing in interviews with the Times. He defended his medical exams as thorough and appropriate, adding that frank and honest dialogue about sex lives was part of his way of treating late adolescents who were enrolled at USC.
“I never had any sexual urges” toward patients, he told the newspaper.
School administrators didn’t suspend Tyndall until 2016 and didn’t formally end his employment until June 2017, the newspaper said. USC brokered a secret deal that allowed Tyndall to resign with an undisclosed payout, according to the Times.
The university didn’t inform the California Medical Board, a state agency that licenses and regulates medical professionals, until March, the newspaper said.
In addition to more transparency in sexual harassment cases, Sampath said the school also needs to provide more resources for student sexual assault survivors, such as opening a rape treatment center on campus. Liu Yinmeng in Los Angeles contributed to this story.