Outrage Grows Over USC's Gynecologist Sex Abuse Scandal

Dr. George Tyndall accused of rampant sexual abuse of patients
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted May 23, 2018 8:05 AM CDT
Updated May 23, 2018 11:05 AM CDT
Calls for USC President to Resign Amid Widening Gynecologist Scandal
USC President CL Max Nikias, left, is seen with USC Board of Trustees Chair John Mork during a commencement address by actor Will Ferrell during USC's commencement ceremony in Los Angeles on May 12, 2017.   (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Outrage is growing at the University of Southern California, where 200 faculty members on Tuesday called for the university's president, CL Max Nikias, to step down over the university's handling of sexual abuse allegations against a former campus health clinic gynecologist. At least eight complaints were made against Dr. George Tyndall between 2000 and 2014, but they weren't brought to light until an internal USC probe in 2016, launched after a health center staff member complained about Tyndall, found he had sexually harassed patients. But the private university didn't report him to the state medical board, instead simply allowing Tyndall to resign last year, Reuters reports. More allegations have sprung up recently, including several lawsuits filed by former patients, a new accusation dating back to 1991, and hundreds of reports from concerned patients who responded to a hotline and special website set up by USC.

Tyndall, 71, who worked on the campus for 30 years, is accused of photographing students' genitals, touching students inappropriately, making sexually suggestive comments during exams, and forcing students to strip naked, the AP reports; his victims allegedly included many foreign students from China. USC did file a complaint with the medical board in March, after Tyndall requested reinstatement, and recently alerted the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office of the situation. The DA's office in turn referred it to the Los Angeles Police Department, but an LAPD spokesperson said this week there is no active criminal investigation. Nikias has promised to "change the culture" at USC and acknowledged Tyndall should have been reported earlier, while the chair of USC's Board of Trustees called the situation "distressing" but said the board has "full confidence" in Nikias. Tyndall spoke to the Los Angeles Times last week and insisted he'd done nothing wrong. (More sexual abuse stories.)

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