LOS ANGELES -- The president of the University of Southern California has agreed to step down over a sex scandal involving a university gynecologist who is accused of conducting inappropriate exams for decades, the school's board of trustees said Friday.
The university's board has "agreed to begin an orderly transition and commence the process of selecting a new president," Rick Caruso, the board's chairman, said in a letter to students and faculty members.
The letter did not say when C.L. Max Nikias would leave his post.
The announcement came days after hundreds of students, professors and alumni demanded Nikias' ouster, alleging that the university failed to respond to complaints of misconduct involving George Tyndall, a gynecologist who worked at a university clinic for 30 years.
Tyndall routinely made crude comments, took inappropriate photographs and forced plaintiffs to strip naked and groped them under the guise of medical treatment for his "sexual gratification," according to civil lawsuits filed this week.
At least a dozen lawsuits have been filed so far and police are interviewing accusers to see if any crime was committed.
The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month that complaints about Tyndall weren't properly addressed by the university for years and university officials never reported him to the medical board, even after he was quietly forced into retirement.
Tyndall, 71, has denied wrongdoing.
Information for this article was contributed by Brian Melley of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/26/2018