World enews: University of Michigan agrees to pay $490 million to 1,000 former students suffering sexual abuse by sports doctor

The University of Michigan has agreed to pay $490m to more than 1,000 former students who suffered sexual abuse by a sports doctor at the school.

Most of the students who have said they were abused by Dr Robert Anderson are male, with allegations going back as far as the 1960s.

Parker Stinar of the law firm Wahlberg, Woodruff, Nimmo & Sloane in Denver, which represents dozens of the former students who have made allegations against Dr Anderson, said in a statement that “it has been a long and challenging journey and I believe this settlement will provide justice and healing for the many brave men and women who refused to be silenced”.

The school said in a press release that of the $490m total, “$460 million will be available to the approximately 1,050 claimants, and $30 million would be reserved for future claimants who choose to participate in the settlement before July 31, 2023”.

The school added that the settlement has been approved by 98 per cent of the claimants.

“Claimants and their attorneys will be responsible for deciding how to divide the $460 million among the claimants,” the school said, adding that they “will have no role in this process”.

“We hope this settlement will begin the healing process for survivors,” the chair of the University of Michigan Board of Regents, Jordan Acker, said. “At the same time, the work that began two years ago, when the first brave survivors came forward, will continue.”

University President Mary Sue Coleman said: “This agreement is a critical step among many the university has taken to improve support for survivors and more effectively prevent and address misconduct.”

Attorney Jamie White, who represents 78 survivors, told The Michigan Daily that the agreement was reached on Tuesday night. Talks between accusers and the school began in October 2020.

A judge and the victims still have to accept the settlement.

“It’s always difficult to put a value on what is fair and what is not fair when it comes to having your childhood taken away,” he told the paper. “Based on my conversations with my clients, even prior to yesterday, [I think] that this is going to be acceptable to them.”

Dr Anderson worked at the university from 1966 until 2003, serving as a team doctor and the director of University Health Services. He retired in 2003 and died in 2008, without having been investigated or tried.

While Mr White said the university had been cooperative, he told The Michigan Daily that he had hoped that the settlement would have come sooner as many of the claimants are older men, some of whom passed away during the mediation process.

“What my clients said from day one, and I represent a significant amount of ex-football players, is that they loved the University of Michigan, and it was very important to them that the University of Michigan was not bashed or smeared or hurt during this process,” Mr White told the paper. “At the same time, you know, they wanted some accountability and they want the University of Michigan to be the leader that it has been for more than a century.”

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