It makes all sexual abuse settlements pale in comparison. For it is not about the amount of money paid out, an incredible sum of $1.1 billion, but the sheer number of victims – easily into the hundreds, in fact, it may reach thousands.
Dr. George Tyndall
Dr. George Tyndall is not a “new invention.” As a speaker and trainer on ethical behavior and the avoidance of issues such as sexual harassment and abuse and gender discrimination in the workplace, I know that people like George Tyndall exist in the absence of oversite.
Nevertheless, it is staggering to realize that George Tyndall’s need for power and sexual abuse first resulted in a 2018 federal class action for $215 million, then came a second group with an unknown settlement, and most recently, an $852 million settlement with an incredible about 700 plaintiffs.
I find it serves no purpose to go into the prurience as well as the racism ascribed to Tyndall’s actions. It is simply easier to say he was consistently inappropriate and abusive. There are numerous newspaper stories circulating, in detail, as to what he did to vulnerable young women.
A lawyer, John C. Manly, who was involved in the third batch of lawsuits was recently (March 25, 2021) quoted by the New York Times saying “the reason U.S.C. paid this money was that there was culpability — they knew early on, in the early ’90s and all the way through his tenure that this was happening.”
Money? Hardly!
The young women (some are now well into their forties and early fifties) received awards from $250,000 to several million dollars. I would strongly caution anyone from saying that the women cashed-in on the abuse. I have heard these types of remarks before, and often the remarks fail to understand the deep psychological scarring and the larger world of sexual harassment and abuse that happens in universities across the nation.
Sexual abuse (from discrimination to rape) against women, and at times men, have been occurring for many decades. I have addressed these issues when they have occurred on campuses in regard to teen gymnasts all the way through to medical school students.
It is easy for an adult man (or woman) to wield a cudgel of power against a naïve student. The rationalization for the abuser comes so easy, because it is so practiced. It could be framed in a rationalization of “Well, all I did was give her a routine medical exam.” It immediately places the abused in a defensive position.
Nevertheless, making overt and suggestive comments as to a woman’s genitals, or taking photographs, or inappropriately touching are far outside the norm. Tyndall has been at this since the early 1990s. He “had his lines” down pat and scoffed at the accusations.
Yes, Tyndall was eventually arrested in 2019 where he was charged with sexual assault on 16 women, but he is now freed on bond. He maintains his innocence, pleading not guilty to 35 counts of criminal sexual misconduct and is free on bond. More charges will follow.
Said Rick Caruso, the chair of USC’s board of trustees:
“The behavior that was discovered shocks the conscience of the university to its core. Our institution fell short by not doing everything it could to protect those who matter most — our students, and I am sorry for the pain this caused the very people we were obligated to protect.”
Throwing the Flag
I have given you the “topline” of a very long and painful process. Tyndall, a Vietnam war medical officer, began treating women at USC as far back as the early 1990s. Women as old as 54 have stepped forward, telling the courts the university essentially threw money at them so they would shut-up.
The university system in its gender-biased, sexually-abusive way is a complete conundrum. They purport to be “progressive,” and yet in many ways they are stone-aged “Neolithic.” Not for a moment do I think that George Tyndall M.D. was an aberration, no more than Larry Nassar at MSU. If not an M.D., other schools might allow professors to abuse and bully or coaches or administrators or prominent alumni.
The system perpetuates because a lack of an ethical center perpetuates. What was more surprising to USC, that it cost them $1.1 billion or that George Tyndall got away with it for so long? People such as Tyndall can only exist in an ethical vacuum. In order for an ethical vacuum to exist, there must be a lack of training and for good people to do nothing.
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