logo
#

Latest news with #OhioStateUniversity

A new film about the Ohio State wrestling team sex abuse scandal indicts those who looked away
A new film about the Ohio State wrestling team sex abuse scandal indicts those who looked away

Los Angeles Times

time5 minutes ago

  • Sport
  • Los Angeles Times

A new film about the Ohio State wrestling team sex abuse scandal indicts those who looked away

For more than 30 years, Fred Feeney refereed matches for the Ohio State University's powerhouse wrestling team. Unlike the dozens of young men whose athletic scholarships depended on staying in the good graces of the team doctor, Richard Strauss, who could withhold permission for them to compete, Feeney didn't have to persuade himself that what Strauss did was OK. He didn't have to pretend it was OK that Strauss was constantly taking showers with athletes. Or that it was OK when, after a match, Strauss masturbated next to Feeney in the shower, then grabbed the ref's ass. A visibly shaken Feeney recounts in the new documentary, 'Surviving Ohio State,' that he left the locker room that day in distress and immediately told wrestling coach Russ Hellickson and assistant wrestling coach Jim Jordan what had happened. Both coaches shrugged, said Feeney, who added that Jordan told him, 'It's Strauss. You know what he does.' Dan Ritchie, who quit the wrestling team in his third year because he could no longer tolerate Strauss' sexual abuse — which included forcing athletes to drop their pants and endure genital and rectal exams when they saw him, for even the most minor complaint — said that Jordan once told him, 'If he ever did that to me, I'd snap his neck like a stick of dry balsa wood.' But Jordan, now the powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and an unwavering ally of President Trump, has assiduously denied ever seeing or knowing about assaults committed by Strauss during Jordan's eight years with the team. He emerges as one of the bad guys in the new film, which is based on the Sports Illustrated 2020 investigation, 'Why Aren't More People Talking About the Ohio State Sex Abuse Scandal?' Produced by the Oscar-winning documentarian Eva Orner and George Clooney's production company, it debuted on HBO Max in June. 'To say that [Jordan] knew nothing, that nothing ever happened, it's a flat out lie,' Ritchie says in the documentary. A callous response to reports of sexual assault was the norm at Ohio State. While administrators deflected reports about Strauss for years, claiming they were just rumors, the university's 2019 investigation, performed by an outside law firm, found that during his 1978-1996 tenure in the athletics department and at the student health center, Strauss assaulted at least 177 students thousands of times. The school's fencing coach, Charlotte Remenyik, complained about Strauss for 10 years until he was finally removed as her teams' doctor. (In response to her efforts to protect her athletes, Strauss accused her of waging a vendetta against him.) A complaint finally caused the university to remove him as a treating physician at OSU in 1996, but he was still a tenured faculty member when he retired, with 'emeritus' status, in 1998. He died by suicide in 2005. It was not until the Larry Nassar gymnastics abuse scandal exploded between 2016 and 2018 that the former Ohio State wrestlers understood that they, too, had been victimized by their team doctor, and that there were probably a lot more of them than anyone realized. 'I said, 'Wow, that's us,'' said former OSU wrestler Michael DiSabato, one of the first to go public. 'It unlocked something in me.' A group of former teammates met in 2018, then later sat down with their old coach, Hellickson, in an emotional encounter. Hellickson promised to write letters supporting them, the wrestlers said, then ghosted them. He did not respond to filmmakers' requests to be interviewed. Likewise, Jordan shunned requests for interviews, and he has appeared exasperated in news clips when questioned about what he knew. He's not a defendant in any of the abuse lawsuits filed against OSU. In 2020, Michael DiSabato's brother, Adam, a former wrestler and team captain, testified under oath during a hearing on an Ohio bill that would have allowed Strauss' victims to sue OSU for damages, that Jordan called him 'crying, groveling … begging me to go against my brother.' Jordan has denied that conversation took place. It seems to me that a normal human being, operating from a place of empathy, might express feelings of sorrow that the young male athletes in his charge were abused to the point that some considered suicide and others quit sports altogether, instead of accusing them of lying. Ritchie, for example, said his father was so disappointed about his decision to quit wrestling — he could not bring himself to tell his father why — that it permanently overshadowed their relationship. I find no evidence that Jordan ever expressed feelings of regret for his wrestlers, though he did insist to Politico in 2018, 'I never knew about any type of abuse. If I did, I would have done something about it. And look, if there are people who are abused, then that's terrible and we want justice to happen.' If? Although the explosive new documentary has been overshadowed by the implosion taking place in MAGA world over the 'Jeffrey Epstein files' and questions about Trump's relationship with the serial sexual predator, the OSU scandal is far from being yesterday's news. So far, OSU has settled with nearly 300 abuse survivors, each receiving an average of $252,000. But many are not willing to settle for what they consider peanuts and note that the average payout to Nassar's victim is more than $1 million. On Friday, as part of a federal civil lawsuit filed by some of them, Jordan was reportedly due to be deposed under oath for the first time about the allegations that he knew about the abuse and failed to protect his wrestlers. Steve Snyder-Hill, one of the first OSU non-athletes to report that he'd been assaulted by Strauss in 1995, told NBC that he planned to be present for Jordan's deposition. 'I expect him to lie under oath,' said Snyder-Hill. 'I don't know a nicer way to put it.' Bluesky: @rabcarian Threads: @rabcarian

Want More Self-Control? The Secret Isn't Willpower.
Want More Self-Control? The Secret Isn't Willpower.

New York Times

timea day ago

  • Health
  • New York Times

Want More Self-Control? The Secret Isn't Willpower.

We tend to respect and even idolize those who exhibit a lot of willpower. The friend who hits up the gym five times a week. The social media influencer who maintains a meticulously decorated, camera-ready home. That colleague who manages to stay calm and focused in nearly every situation. Research suggests that these people are not only viewed as trustworthy but also morally superior. How can we mere mortals compare? Polls show that many Americans are feeling heightened levels of anxiety and stress, which can make delaying gratification and inhibiting impulses even harder. But willpower shouldn't be confused with self-control. While you can use willpower to manage your emotions or fight temptation, research suggests that it may not be the most effective method. To improve willpower, it boils down to 'just try harder,' said Kentaro Fujita, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University who studies self-regulation and decision making. But self-control involves a set of skills that can be learned, he added. Preparation, mind-set and the ability to either avoid or reframe temptation can be far more effective than trying to 'force that desire down,' Dr. Fujita said. First, what is 'self-control' and why does it matter? Traditionally, psychologists have defined self-control as the ability to wait for later, larger rewards. But it can also be thought of as a way to alter your thoughts, feelings and behaviors to reach a specific goal. When we have self-control, we can resist unhealthy impulses and persevere when we feel like quitting, experts say. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Vaping while pregnant can change your baby's skull shape — even without nicotine
Vaping while pregnant can change your baby's skull shape — even without nicotine

The Independent

time2 days ago

  • Health
  • The Independent

Vaping while pregnant can change your baby's skull shape — even without nicotine

Vaping may alter a baby's skull shape in the womb, according to researchers. Exposure to two liquid ingredients in the e-cigarettes used to create vaping's throat hit and smoke plume were tied to the changes – even without the addiction-driving nicotine. 'This had no nicotine, and it's still having effects on the development of the skull in our model, which was not anything we expected,' Dr. James Cray, a professor of anatomy in The Ohio State University College of Medicine, said in a statement. To reach these conclusions, Cray and his team studied the effects in pregnant mice. The mice were either exposed to filtered free air or the two substances at differing concentrations. Some were given 50 percent each of propylene glycol and glycerol (the two liquid ingredients), or 30 percent of propylene glycol and 70 percent glycerol. During their roughly 20-day pregnancy, the mice were exposed to vaping conditions at a rate of one puff each minute for four hours during the course of five days every week. Then, their pups' skulls were scanned two weeks after birth, measuring cranial width and height. They found that there were 'statistically significant' reduced measurements in the mice exposed to the 30 percent and 70 percent mixture compared to those exposed to free air and the 50 percent formula. Cray, the lead author of the work, noted that because propylene gylcol had been linked to an increased uptake of nicotine, 'a lot of companies have moved toward getting away from a high percentage of propylene glycol toward more glycerol, trying to position this as a safer alternative.' The researchers had believed that heavier propylene glycol should be causing more effects but he said it was 'the exact opposite.' The results were consistent across several litters of mice in both biological sexes. 'What we see is a consistent narrowing of all of the facial features, and the same thing as we move back into the cranium as well. So globally they're narrower and a little bit shorter-headed, which does mimic some observable changes that we see in children,' Cray explained. 'We also saw a bit of a reduction in weight. These animals were within the normal range of an animal that age, but they still weighed less,' he said. Funded by the Ohio State colleges of Medicine and Dentistry, the research was recently published in the journal PLOS One. Researchers are continuing to examine the health effects of e-cigarettes. 'The majority of users are young adults and teenagers, so we are talking about people who are in peak reproductive years. And with development of the head happening very early in fetal development, people could be using these products and not even realize that they are pregnant, which is of great concern,' Cray added. 'This is a small study that speaks to the possibility that nicotine-free vaping is not safe. And it's a sign that we probably should study the nicotine-free products as much as we study the nicotine-laden products,' he said.

Rep Jim Jordan to be questioned under oath on Strauss sex abuse scandal
Rep Jim Jordan to be questioned under oath on Strauss sex abuse scandal

The Hill

time2 days ago

  • Sport
  • The Hill

Rep Jim Jordan to be questioned under oath on Strauss sex abuse scandal

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will answer questions under oath in relation to the Richard Strauss sex abuse scandal at Ohio State University, sources have told Nexstar's WCMH. After years of appeals, depositions are underway in the sexual abuse scandal involving Strauss, a former Ohio State University doctor. It has been seven years since the first lawsuits were filed against the university. Jordan is set to be deposed on Friday in Washington. Former Ohio State Athletic Director Andy Geiger was deposed on Wednesday in Los Angeles. Columbus says village's speed cameras are straining city's resources Jordan and Geiger are being questioned as part of civil lawsuits against the university. Neither have been charged with any crimes, but many have questioned what they knew about Strauss' behavior. In a statement, a spokesperson for Jordan repeated earlier denials. 'As everyone knows, Chairman Jordan never saw or heard of any abuse, and if he had, he would have dealt with it,' the spokesperson said. Attorneys for Ohio State University have also questioned some of the survivors, whose Title IX claims accuse the university of knowing what Strauss was doing, facilitating it, and concealing it. Survivors have shared their anguished stories as they described being sexually abused, even being drugged and raped by Strauss. But they also shared their anger as they learned the Strauss assaults lasted for nearly 20 years, and they said university leaders, even their own coaches, knew. At least four former wrestlers and one referee are on record saying they complained about Strauss to Jordan, a then-assistant wrestling coach. HBO recently released a documentary about the scandal. Marshall was interviewed for the documentary after reporting on the scandal for many years. Ohio State was not involved in making the documentary. The survivors of Strauss kept quiet for decades, internalizing their trauma, but back in 2018, they started talking. Hundreds of the survivors of the 20-year-long string of sexual assaults by the Ohio State team doctor still have cases against the university pending in federal court. In a previous statement to WCMH, an Ohio State University spokesperson said: Ohio State led the effort to investigate and expose Richard Strauss, and we express our deep regret and apologies to all who experienced Strauss' abuse. The university is forever grateful to the survivors who participated in the independent investigation, which could not have been completed without their strength and courage. Since 2018, we have reached settlement agreements with more than half of the plaintiffs, 296 survivors, for more than $60 million. All male students who filed lawsuits have been offered the opportunity to settle. In addition, the university continues to cover the cost of professionally certified counseling services and other medical treatment, including reimbursement for counseling and treatment received in the past.

Rep. Jim Jordan may be deposed over OSU sex abuse scandal
Rep. Jim Jordan may be deposed over OSU sex abuse scandal

Yahoo

time2 days ago

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Rep. Jim Jordan may be deposed over OSU sex abuse scandal

Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan could be deposed over allegations he knew about the sexual assaults perpetrated by Ohio State University Dr. Richard Strauss but failed to protect the student wrestlers, according to a report. Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, served as the assistant coach for the wrestling team from 1978 to 1998. Students discussed their alleged assaults with Jordan and other staff members, according to claims made in a civil suit brought by dozens of former students against the school. The Congressman, who is not a defendant in the case, may be deposed as soon as Friday, four plaintiffs told NBC News. A lawyer for the plaintiffs confirmed to The Independent that Jordan is scheduled to be deposed. Jordan has repeatedly denied any involvement in the alleged cover-up. 'As everyone knows, Chairman Jordan never saw or heard of any abuse, and if he had, he would have dealt with it,' Russell Dye, a spokesperson for Jordan, told The Independent. Congressman Jim Jordan is scheduled to be deposed in connection with a civil suit over the sex abuse scandal at Ohio State University, where he served as assistant wrestling coach (Getty Images) The expected deposition comes one month after HBO released the documentary ​​Surviving Ohio State, 20 years after Strauss died. Survivors first emerged with allegations in 2018. In the documentary, Dan Ritchie, who wrestled at the university from 1988 to 1992, alleged that Strauss was known to conduct unnecessary genital exams with ungloved hands. Ritchie claimed Jordan addressed these rumors directly with his athletes, telling them: 'If he ever did that to me, I'd snap his neck like a stick of dry balsa wood.' Mike DiSabato, who wrestled for Jordan and was the first to launch allegations against Strauss, told NBC News that he expects the Ohio Republican to 'triple down' on his denials. 'I assume he's going to triple down and follow the same script he followed back in 2018 when he went on Fox and denied knowing about any abuse, denied being told of any abuse, never heard the word 'abuse,'' DiSabato told the outlet. Steve Snyder-Hill, a former OSU student who alleges abuse by Strauss, recalled in the documentary: 'Somebody asked me one time, they said, 'Are you a survivor or are you a victim?' He reflected: 'I had to think about that, and I thought, you know what? I'm a survivor of sexual assault, but I'm a victim of OSU.' He plans to watch the deposition Friday, he told NBC News. 'I expect him to lie under oath,' Snyder-Hill said of Jordan. 'I don't know a nicer way to put it.' Jordan's locker was very close to Strauss so Snyder-Hill doubts Jordan's claims that he didn't know what was going on. Snyder-Hill told the outlet: 'That's hard to believe.' Since the initial investigations emerged, the university has paid more than $60 million in settlement money to nearly 300 survivors. Michael V. Drake, who served as OSU president when the scandal broke and the investigations began, issued a statement on behalf of the school at the time apologizing 'to each person who endured Strauss' abuse.' He said: 'Our institution's fundamental failure at the time to prevent this abuse was unacceptable – as were the inadequate efforts to thoroughly investigate complaints raised by students and staff members.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store