Amid Scandal of Campus Gynecologist, USC Faculty Members Call on President to Resign

U. of Southern California

Two hundred University of Southern California faculty members demanded on Tuesday in a letter to the Board of Trustees that C.L. Max Nikias, the university’s president, resign from his position, the Los Angeles Times reports. The letter follows revelations that a former university gynecologist remained on staff after decades of complaints about inappropriate sexual behavior.

Last week the newspaper reported that the complaints were first made in the 1990s against George Tyndall, a former gynecologist for USC’s student-health center, over his alleged mistreatment of patients during health exams.

In 2016 Tyndall was suspended. He later resigned and took a payout. A USC investigation also found that his behavior went beyond medical practice and that his actions sexually harassed students, but he was not reported to the Medical Board of California, the Times reported.

On Monday six women filed lawsuits against the university that accused officials there of not responding to complaints about Tyndall by clinic staff members, and alleged the women were victimized under the pretext of medical care, the Times reported.

In a statement on Tuesday, Nikias wrote that there is a need to “change the culture” at the university. His statement also announced a new panel, the President’s Campus Culture Commission, to advise administrators on improving standards for profesisionalism, equity, and ethics on the campus.

Also on Tuesday the Board of Trustees issued a statement reaffirming its support for Nikias. “The executive committee of the board has full confidence in President Nikias’ leadership, ethics, and values, and is certain that he will successfully guide our community forward,” the statement says.

In a statement on Monday, Michael W. Quick, USC’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, wrote that characterizations that university leaders knew about and covered up Tyndall’s behavior are “untrue.”

“It is unthinkable,” Quick wrote in the statement. “It is true that our system failed, but it is important that you know that this claim of a cover-up is patently false. We would never knowingly put students in harm’s way.”

The faculty members’ letter criticized how the university had handled not only Tyndall but also other scandals that have plagued top campus leaders.

“The university administration’s actions have been wrong at every turn, and not only in hindsight,” the letter says. “In this case, as in prior cases, faced with an ongoing pattern of serious wrongdoing by a powerful university official, the university has kept the wrongdoing quiet, settled financially with the wrongdoer in secret, and denied any responsibility on the part of the university.”

The Tyndall controversy surfaced less than a year after revelations that Carmen A. Puliafito, a former dean of the university’s Keck School of Medicine, had lived a drug-fueled life, and a woman had overdosed in his company. Like Tyndall, Puliafito resigned quietly, and USC later acknowledged years of complaints about his behavior.

Puliafito’s successor, Rohit Varma, was removed from his position in 2017 when the Los Angeles Times revealed that he had been accused of sexually harassing and retaliating against a woman he supervised in 2003.

“We lament that, time after time, the administration has admitted to its failing only after being exposed by the Los Angeles Times,” the letter says.

Update (5/22/2018, 4:53 p.m.): This article has been updated with statements from the university president and the Board of Trustees, and with information about lawsuits filed against the university.

Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz is breaking-news editor. Follow her on Twitter @FernandaZamudio, or email her at fzamudiosuarez@chronicle.com.