In a new class action lawsuit on behalf of former male university students extreme right-wing Republican Jim Jordan has been named for failing to prevent sexual abuse perpetrated by a university doctor.
Jordan, the jut-jawed Republican and anti-gay crusader in the House, is singled out in the suit: He’s one of only three former school officials named, including Strauss, though the action is aimed at all the coaches, administrators and others in positions of responsibility at OSU who, it claims, stood by while students and student-athletes were repeatedly “sexually abused, harassed, and molested,” and “forced” to seek treatment from a well-known predator even after they complained. (Strauss was the sole team doctor for the wrestlers; the men say they either had to choose to let injuries go untreated, as the lawsuit says some did, or subject themselves to yet another assault.)
The lead plaintiff, “John Doe,” says he was groped, assaulted and molested at least 20 times. The other wrestlers have told reporters how Strauss allegedly used any excuse to make them expose themselves and grope them, and the lawsuit adds some sickening details:
“On one occasion, Plaintiff suffered a rib injury while wrestling and made an appointment to see Dr. Strauss for treatment. Dr. Strauss instructed Plaintiff to drop his pants so he could examine Plaintiff’s scrotum for a hernia. Plaintiff was young and believed that Dr. Strauss’ actions were medically necessary, but felt violated and helpless.”
The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Strauss also took photographs of the men he was forcing to disrobe unnecessarily. It describes how he “regularly touched students’ genitals and breast areas, often at the same time, regularly measured students’ scrotums, all for the purpose of his own sexual arousal and gratification, and for no legitimate medical purpose and for no other reason than to satisfy his own sexual desires.
And Jim Jordan who was the wrestling coach at the time knew all about it.
You can read the lawsuit here in its entirety.
*CAVEAT: This article originally appeared in Rolling Stone of September 2019. We call this news “new” because this issue and Jordan’s involvement has flown under the radar of many and has been ignored. While of course we expect the horrid Republicans to stay quiet on this sexual abuse case and Jordan’s involvement it’s extremely disturbing that the #MeToo movement has not said a word about this. Be sure if the abuse happened to female athletes instead of males they would lose their minds.