The death of George Tyndall on October 4, 2023 before a trial could take place is a quiet ending that was undeserved. Whatever news reports may try to balance their coverage with Tyndall's pleas of innocence against the charges brought forward under Los Angeles District Attorney's Jackie Lacey and George Gascón with sleight of hand at a snail's place, we know he was guilty. The women who were victimized by George Tyndall deserved their day in court, all of them, including the nearly 400 who spoke with police and prosecutors, from which 145 case referrals were made, that would ultimately result in charges being brought forward on 16 victims behalfs for justice. 

The death of Tyndall, formerly employed as the lead gynecologist for the University of Southern California from August 14, 1989, to June 21, 2016 was the target of numerous complaints and multiple internal investigations. Despite complaints from patients, nurses, and his supervisor Lawrence Neinstein, who died in 2016, the full scale of the sexual abuse remained hidden even after Tyndall was separated from USC with a financial settlement. After the Los Angeles Times investigation became by Paul Pringle, Matt Hamilton, Harriet Ryan and others became public on May 16, 2018, the truth of the sexual abuse, harassment and discrimination by George Tyndall became known to the world. USC under then Chairman of the Board of Trustees Rick Caruso promised an independent investigation report to the USC community. Caruso never delivered on this promise. 

Separately, the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights in response to complaints by victims undertook an investigation. The Findings from this probe were released on February 27, 2020 as a 51-page report under OCR Docket No. 09-18-6901. The accompanying Resolution Agreement signed by Caruso and current USC President Carol Folt promise a slew of changes, but they start from a basic principle in their first section that removes the USC Office of General Counsel from matters under Title IX. OCR is tasked with enforcing Title IX nationwide in defense of civil rights in K-Higher Education institutions. In concluding such agreements to address complaints, they seek to produce compliance in defending our civil rights. USC's agreement signed immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic struck was not it's first, USC had in fact violated its prior Resolution Agreement concluded on January 28, 2018 over mishandling Title IX complaints from students under OCR case numbers 09-13-2294 and 09-16-2128. USC was required to tell OCR about the complaints and investigations into George Tyndall which included hiring outside experts, yet they did not report him. 

The civil lawsuits filed against USC over George Tyndall also required changes to be made at USC, particularly in regards to women's health services, but the OCR changes were more comprehensive and sought to address a cultural breakdown that included nearly two dozen USC employees including some of the highest ranking officers within the university as well as Human Resources officers and attorneys from the General Counsel's office. OCR concluded its investigation without receiving many of the documents they requested from USC under then General Counsel Carol Mauch Amir, who earned limited, non-conclusive criticism from OCR over George Tyndall. Among the reports received, most important in the end were those made by USC nurse Cindy Gilbert who worked at the Student Health Center that was part of USC's Division of Student Affairs. 

USC Human Resources personnel in taking complaints from Mrs. Gilbert in turn sought to intimidate her out of her job, as did colleagues at the Student Health Center. Ms. Gilbert would leave her job on her own violation due to the hostile work environment. OCR faulted USC for failing to conduct prompt and thorough investigations into Dr. Tyndall. USC repeatedly sought to diminish the nature of the reports as just words spoken by Tyndall, but the truth was far worse. Tyndall is believed to have sexually assaulted with digital penetration many of his patients in addition to making offensive remarks. His medical practice was also improper, and indeed even dangerous. Tyndall would photograph patients under the claim of medical studies, and eventually in boxes of photographs would be discovered in his office and investigated by USC's Office of Compliance. USC went as far as to conduct anonymous surveys to determine if anything was up, and still they did not report him to the medical board or remove him from practicing until the boxes of photos were discovered. They failed to detect the abuse and stop him. 

USC has failed to issue a single public statement in regards to the death of George Tyndall despite issuing numerous statements in the aftermath of the disclosure and in the wake of civil court settlements totaling over $1.1 billion dollars. Tyndall was not the only predatory doctor at the Student Health Center, Dr. Dennis Kelly similarly preyed upon gay and bisexual male patients. The dollar figure for resolving that case totaling 80 patients is confidential. In response to these scandals, USC has made some changes, but too much has lagged particularly in communicating with the USC community just as Caruso failed to do in delivering his promised report. Recently, the Los Angeles Times conducted an investigation into Title IX cases within the California State University system using a law firm also employed by USC to investigate it's Athletics Director. That report found significant issues with Title IX investigations including a low rate of Resolution which is the goal of the process and suspiciously disjointed documents that help to sustain a culture of retaliation around these issues. 

As a result, following the Los Angeles Times investigation by Colleen Shalby and Robert J. Lopez, the Governor of California Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 808 requiring the following: "the university is required to report annually to the Legislature the number of sexual harassment reports made to each campus and the chancellor’s office; the outcome of a sexual harassment case; whether a case was settled or informally resolved; the number of hearings associated with a complaint; and the amount of time an investigation took to complete. Campuses will also be required to publish the outcome of settlements. The new measures take effect next year." This does not apply to USC or any other private university in the state, but USC because it is under monitoring is actually required to take similar, but far more limited steps in disclosing such information to the community. It's in the George Tyndall Resolution Agreement: "Section VIII. B. On an annual basis while this Agreement is in effect, the Title IX coordinator will provide a written report to the President, Provost, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees regarding the status of the implementation of the plan, including the actions taken and an assessment of their effectiveness as well as proposals for the next academic year. The University will provide similar information to the University community in an annual letter to the community."

USC has not issued a single annual letter to meet this requirement to the community as promised. USC is not in full compliance with its Resolution Agreement with George Tyndall and most importantly it is failing to take the most important required step to do self-evaluation on its efforts to eliminate sexual assaults at USC and repair a damaged University environment. USC has also failed to promptly and consistently implement other parts of this agreement, indeed in January 2022 after numerous complaints from myself as well as others including in response to the unfortunate incidents of drug-facilitated sexual assaults OCR finally followed up with USC, and they found USC had not conducted other required steps. 

USC appears to have significantly delayed in even adding an option to report as part of its performance evaluation process. USC lacks any policy regarding promotions for staff. There is no whistleblower policy at USC. The recent scandal with now former USC Athletic Director Mike Bohn again raises questions about USC's culture and how it handles these issues. By failing to meet its information disclosure obligations with OCR in regards to Title IX all that USC does is send a big message that these issues are to be kept secret and not discussed. By failing to issue any statement, at any-level whether from current Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees Suzanne Nora Johnson or President Carol Folt the message sent to the victims of George Tyndall and Dennis Kelly is yet again silence, and silence is betrayal. 

Demand Justice for the Victims of George Tyndall. USC must issue a statement immediately recognizing his death, the lack of a trial, and offering support services for victims in coping with this lack of resolution. USC must release its promised investigation report now that Tyndall is dead. Demand that USC meet all of its legal obligations to make USC the safe, welcoming community we all want starting by disclosing all required Title IX information. That's the change and culture that we want to see, and the retaliation against employee whistleblowers such as Cindy Gilbert must never be repeated.

Links:

(1) The Times’ investigation of George Tyndall, former USC gynecologist accused of sexually abusing students: https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-usc-george-tyndall-sg-storygallery.html

(2) OCR 2020 Findings and Resolution Agreement: https://change.usc.edu/transformation/ocr-2020/

(3) OCR 2018 Findings and Resolution Agreement: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/investigations/more/09132294-a.pdf

(4) Former USC gynecologist George Tyndall charged with 29 felonies in sex abuse case: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-george-tyndall-arrest-usc-sexual-abuse-20190626-story.html

(5) George Tyndall, ex-USC gynecologist accused of sexual abuse, found dead at home: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-05/george-tyndall-ex-usc-gynecologist-accused-of-sexual-abuse-found-dead-at-home

(6) Newsom signs bill that requires CSU to report sexual harassment cases, following Times reports: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-10/newsom-signs-bill-that-requires-csu-to-report-sexual-harassment-data-following-times-reports