COLUMBUS, Ohio — It's a story Steve Snyder-Hill has told many times before. But that doesn't make it easier.
"It just was awful," he said. "I’ll never forget anything about it. I remember the smell of his breath, I can remember that. I remember feeling his breath on my genitals. There’s things like that that will just never go away in my memory."
It was 1995, and Snyder-Hill was a student at The Ohio State University. In January, he went to the student health clinic to have a lump in his chest checked. The doctor who examined him was Richard Strauss. Snyder-Hill said he was asked to completely disrobe, and the appointment only got worse from there. He says he felt wretched afterward and later called the clinic to report what had happened. That led to a meeting with several people, including Strauss.
It turns out, Snyder-Hill would be one of the only abuse survivors who would ever get the chance to confront him, face-to-face. But he would not know that until decades later because, at the time, he thought he was the only one Strauss had ever hurt.
"The only reason that I went away is because I thought it was just me," he said. "I absolutely like, I mean, I had the top physician of student health look me right into the eyes and tell me that it’s never happened before."
More than 20 years later, a new era of discovery began. Snyder-Hill says that moment was captured on his home surveillance camera. He and his husband were just finishing up a workout and listening to the morning newscast on 10TV. It was July 11, 2018, and Snyder-Hill saw the face of Strauss flash on the screen.
The video shows Snyder-Hill stopping to stare and then rushing to sit down at the computer. His husband then spells out Strauss' name so Snyder-Hill can search for it. That's when Snyder-Hill's fight with the university and for the truth intensified.
Snyder-Hill became "Student B" in the independent investigative report completed by Perkins Coie LLP and released on May 15, 2019. And he joined others in suing Ohio State, alleging the university knew about the Strauss abuse and did nothing to stop it.
"I just don’t think that he got the (justice) that he should have gotten from his victims," Snyder-Hill said of Strauss, who died by suicide in 2005. "I think that we should have been able to confront him, and I think that OSU robbed us of that ability."
Back in March, Ohio State announced settlements with roughly half of the 23 lawsuits pending against the university. On Friday, the university released details of the financial terms. Ohio State will pay $40,913,265 to 162 survivors, averaging roughly $252,000 per person, which is slightly above the state's $250,000 cap on compensatory damages. The money will not necessarily be spread evenly, however.
"The university of decades ago failed these individuals – our students, alumni and members of the Buckeye community," said Ohio State President Michael V. Drake in a statement. "Nothing can undo the wrongs of the past, but we must do what we can today to work toward restorative justice. Our focus will always be on the survivors. We know it took great courage for them to come forward, and we are grateful."
Rich Schulte, lead negotiator for the plaintiffs' firms, also released a statement.
"Working with Ohio State, we established an independent confidential process to evaluate each claim individually. The process will account for wide variations in abuse and provide a pathway for survivor healing. One hundred percent of 162 survivors in this settlement decided against further litigation and agreed to participate. The participation rate speaks to the quality of this settlement!"
But 11 other lawsuits representing dozens of survivors are still pending against the university.
Snyder-Hill's case is one of them.
"Since I’ve been fighting them, from the start, two Christmases, two Thanksgivings, two times I’ve watched the new year tick away, the impeachment of a president, and now a pandemic, I’ve lived through, and OSU hasn’t spoken, they haven’t said a word, they haven’t negotiated with us, nothing."