Ohio State is a fundamentally different university today than it was when Strauss was an employee. The university has embraced and enhanced stringent compliance standards separate and apart from its response to Strauss. Over the past 25 years, Ohio State has made robust changes to its culture and policies to protect students, faculty and staff.
Below are some of the many actions taken at Ohio State. A comprehensive list of initiatives over the past 25 years is available on the university’s Office of Institutional Equity website.
- 1998-2005 – Established a Sexual Assault Committee, Sexual Violence Consultation Team, and Sexual Violence Education and Support Unit to respond to and prevent sexual misconduct.
- 2006 – Created an anonymous reporting line for reports of sexual misconduct and launched a mobile app designed to address sexual misconduct, relationship violence and stalking.
- 2011 – Designated a Title IX coordinator.
- 2014, 2018 – Took decisive and immediate action in response to misconduct among the marching band and football coaching staff, and in other situations.
- 2015 – Implemented required sexual misconduct prevention education for all students, faculty and staff.
- 2018 – Enhanced the credentialing process for physicians and health care providers and existing chaperone procedures at the Wexner Medical Center.
- 2018 – Created the Office of Institutional Equity, a centralized office that includes additional staff and focuses on institutional prevention of and response to all forms of harassment, discrimination and sexual misconduct.
- 2019 – To underscore the importance of sexual misconduct prevention education, Ohio State tied the completion of the training to employees’ eligibility to receive a raise and to students’ ability to register for classes.
- 2020 – Ohio State’s Task Force on Sexual Abuse, composed of faculty, staff, external experts and a Strauss survivor, released its report focused on enhancing a culture of compliance and establishing sustainable mechanisms for survivor support and recovery.
Ohio State continues to build on the systems put in place over the past more than two decades. Most recently, this included significant improvements in the Department of Athletics, such as additional options for reporting misconduct and expanded training on incident-reporting requirements for staff, medical, and student-athlete support services. The university has also prohibited public access to locker rooms and training facilities, enhanced chaperone policies and provided student-athletes access to multiple physicians.