Hundreds of USC professors are demanding the university's president resign amid mounting sexual misconduct scandal involving a school gynecologist
- Two hundred USC professors are calling for university president C.L. Max Nikias' resignation.
- The school is facing a sexual-misconduct scandal involving a former gynecologist who several women claim abused them.
- USC conducted an investigation in 2017 and found that his exams were outside of the scope of medical practice.
- USC offered him a deal to resign and accept a financial payout, but did not report him to the state medical board.
Two hundred professors at The University of Southern California (USC) demanded the resignation of the school's president, C.L. Max Nikias, Tuesday in the face a mounting sexual misconduct scandal, The Los Angeles Times reported.
A day before, six women filed civil lawsuits alleging that a longtime student-health clinic gynecologist, Dr. George Tyndall, sexually abused them during medical examinations, and that he remained employed at the school for decades even though USC was alerted to the claims.
In the suit, one woman claims Tyndall forced an ungloved hand into her vagina during an appointment and made "vulgar" comments about her genitalia, according to The Times. Another woman said that Tyndall groped her breasts, during an appointment.
In a statement to The Times, Tyndall said his medical exams were appropriate and in line with medical standards, and denied making inappropriate comments to patients. "I never had any sexual urges" toward patients, he said in an interview.
A 2017 internal university investigation determined Tyndall's "pelvic exams were outside the scope of current medical practice and amounted to sexual harassment of student," according to The Times.
After the investigation, the university offered Tyndall what The Times calls a "secret deal" to resign with a financial payout, and didn't report him to the state medical board. Nikias and other school administrators have said their actions were a mistake.
Professors at USC rebuked the school's handling of complaints regarding Tyndall. We "write 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 an pervasive sexual harassment and misconduct," the professors said in a letter to The Board of Trustees.
Tyndall was the sole full-time gynecologist at USC's student health clinic from 1989 to 2016. During that time, he faced complaints about misconduct but remained at the clinic until a nurse reported him to a rape crisis center in 2016, according to The Times.
Three hundred former patients of Tyndall have come forward to USC, according to The Times. The Los Angeles Police Department have started a criminal investigation into the allegations.