ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The chairman of the University of Michigan’s governing board who is also one of the school’s largest donors said he was molested by a campus doctor when he was a college wrestler in the 1960s.
Ron Weiser said he is speaking out about the matter because he wants other victims of Dr. Robert E. Anderson to come forward.
“We must encourage survivors to come forward and tell their story and protect their privacy,” Weiser told The Detroit News for a story published Thursday. “Part of that story is that I am a survivor, and I experienced abuse by Dr. Anderson.”
Many men, including other student-athletes like Weiser, say they were molested by Anderson while seeking treatment for various injuries. Anderson, who died in 2008, worked at the university for decades until his retirement in 2003.
The university has received more than 100 complaints since mid-February and has acknowledged some employees were aware of allegations against Anderson prior to a 2018 complaint that led to a police investigation.
Weiser, 75, said he has no plans to sue the university and will not recuse himself from any decisions that the Board of Regents might have to make in the Anderson matter.
Weiser was a University of Michigan student from 1963-67 and a member of the wrestling team. The former real estate developer and his wife, Eileen, have donated more than $100 million to the school.
“It happened a long time ago, but we have to make sure it never happens again,” Weiser said of the abuse. “We have to have an investigation to do that, and that’s what’s going on right now.”
He doesn’t believe there was culpability by any current campus employees.
“Everyone involved is gone. It was so long ago,” Weiser said.
But David Mittleman, a lawyer representing more than two dozen people who claim abuse by Anderson, said he doubts that people who knew about the doctor’s alleged acts are no longer at the school.
“This regent is onto something when he says he wants transparency,” Mittleman told The Associated Press. “There has to be an admission of fault, transparency, accountability, and they must provide justice for the survivors.”
The revelations in Ann Arbor echo other high-profile allegations and investigations of sexual abuse made by patients of sports doctors at other universities, including Michigan State, Ohio State and Minnesota.
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