Michigan team doctor Robert Anderson abused hundreds of athletes under his care. But there are serious allegations that senior figures enabled him
As devoted and lifelong fans of the University of Michigan and The Ohio State University, respectively, we do not agree on much. Between us are countless school-branded Christmas tree ornaments, mugs, basketball shorts, hoodies, football jerseys, and, most of all, rivalrous distemper.
But, one thing we can agree on is the abject horror we feel in the face of the recent sexual abuse scandals that have rocked both campuses, albeit perhaps not yet at a magnitude commensurate with the crimes that have occurred. The most recent revelations have come from Michigan. Between 1966 and 2003, Michigan team doctor Robert Anderson sexually assaulted hundreds of athletes he was employed to heal and protect. Over the decades, many university officials were informed of the abuse by survivors and failed to act, including, reportedly, the late former athletic director Don Canham, current assistant athletic director and head athletic trainer Paul Schmidt, two former track coaches, a former wrestling coach, and legendary former football coach Bo Schembechler. Schmidt, for his part, has denied that he knew about the allegations against Anderson.
Nathan Kalman-Lamb is a lecturing fellow in the Thompson Writing Program at Duke University. Kevin Shafer is an associate professor of Sociology at Brigham Young University.
