A Los Angeles federal judge preliminarily approved a 215-million-US-dollar class-action settlement over alleged sexual abuse by former University of Southern California (USC) gynecologist George Tyndall.
In an open letter issued to the university’s community Thursday, USC Interim President Wanda Austin announced the judge’s decision, saying the money will compensate individuals who received women’s health services from Tyndall at the Student Health Center.
Previous media reports suggested that as many as 17,000 women who were treated by the gynecologist between August 1989 and June 2016 could qualify for the settlement.
Their compensation will range from 2,500 dollars to 250,000 dollars, the university said.
Austin said the settlement included more stipulations for the university, including the appointment of an independent women’s health advocate, pre-hiring background checks for all new personnel and other measures to prevent sexual misconduct.
“This settlement will provide relief to those who were affected by this difficult experience. It is an important milestone for those former patients seeking certain resolution without reliving their painful experiences,” said the letter.
“I hope the independent female health advocate can really keep his or her responsibility and investigate any complaints of improper conduct to the end,” said 30-year-old Erica Ma, a graduate from the USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
The settlement, which could get its final approval at a hearing next January, will be one of the largest settlements to be reached by a US university facing accusations of sexual misconduct.
Tyndall was a gynecologist at the university’s student health center for almost 30 years. He was fired in 2017 after complaints of sexual misconduct and racist language.
Those accusations included groping patients, penetrating them digitally, taking photographs of their bodies and exposing himself. Tyndall denies any wrongdoing.
The Los Angeles Times has reported that some colleagues of Tyndall feared the gynecologist was targeting Asian students.
According to the Deng Law Center in Los Angeles, at least three former Chinese students of the university joined the lawsuits against the USC last May.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said it “has received a total of 99 crime reports” about Tyndall from the Los Angeles Police Department, but Tyndall hasn’t been criminally charged and denies wrongdoing so far.
