COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State University violated state public records law by intentionally withholding old documents from one of the men alleging decades-old sexual misconduct by a school doctor, according to the conclusion reached Tuesday by the official who reviewed the resulting legal dispute.
In 2018, alumnus Steve Snyder-Hill requested records related to his having complained about being abused by Dr. Richard Strauss in the mid-1990s.
The delay violated state law that requires the sharing of public records “within a reasonable period of time,” Ohio Court of Claims special master Jeff Clark concluded in a report filed for the court.
It recommends the court adopt that finding and have the university pay Snyder-Hill's $25 filing fee and any other costs incurred in bringing the complaint.
Clark rejected the university's defense of the deliberate delay, which argued in part that Ohio State had always been committed to making Strauss-related records public but worried that sharing them bit by bit might hurt the investigation.