University of Michigan Agrees to $490 Million Settlement for over 1,000 Sexual Abuse Accusers

The University of Michigan announced Wednesday that it has agreed to a $490 million settlement with attorneys of more than 1,000 claimants who alleged sexual abuse by the now-deceased Dr. Robert Anderson.

The settlement agreement comes days after the university fired President Mark Schlissel “for having ‘an inappropriate relationship’ with a subordinate,” Breitbart News reported, quoting a statement from the institution’s Board of Regents.

The university and the victim’s attorneys, who represent approximately 1,050 claimants, settled Tuesday night, according to Michigan Daily, the university’s student newspaper.

Attorney Jamie White, who represents 78 percent of the accusers, spoke to the outlet regarding the agreement. 

“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,” White explained. “Based on my conversations with my clients, even prior to yesterday, (I think) that this is going to be acceptable to them.”

The University of Michigan employed Anderson from 1966-2003 where he worked for a time as director of University Health Services, according to the Associated Press. He also worked as a physician for multiple athletic teams during his tenure. 

“A number of football players and other athletes have come forward to accuse Anderson, who died in 2008, of sexually abusing them,” the outlet reports. 

A few hurdles remain for the settlement, including approvals by the university’s Board of Regents, 98 percent of claimants, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the release stated:

Pending documentation and approval by the U-M Board of Regents; approval by 98% of the claimants, as recommended by their attorneys; and approval by the court, the cases would be resolved for $490 million. Of that 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.

Claimants’ attorneys will decide how to split the $460 million among the victims and the University of Michigan will not have a hand in the process, according to the release.

Court-appointed mediator Robert F. Riley facilitated the 15-month-long confidential mediation that started in October of 2020, and U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts oversaw the process, the University of Michigan said.

Jordan Acker, the Board of Regents’ chair, spoke to the settlement in the release.

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

The institution’s interim President, Mary Sue Coleman, “said the settlement agreement was the right thing to do,” the release stated.

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

Coleman, who previously served as the University of Michigan’s president from 2002-2014, was appointed as interim president following Schlissel’s firing on Saturday.

Citing a statement from the institution’s Board of Regents, Breitbart News reported:

“It is with great disappointment that we announce that the University of Michigan Board of Regents has removed Dr. Mark Schlissel as President of the University of Michigan, effective immediately,” the Board of Regents said in a statement posted to the school’s website.

“On Dec. 8, 2021, via an anonymous complaint, we learned that Dr. Schlissel may have been involved in an inappropriate relationship with a University employee,” the board added.

The statement went on to say that after an investigation was conducted, “we learned that Dr. Schlissel, over a period of years, used his University email account to communicate with that subordinate in a manner inconsistent with the dignity and reputation of the University.”

Keith Moore, who says Anderson sexually abused him during a doctor’s appointment in 1980, spoke to Schlissel’s firing before the settlement came to fruition Tuesday night, according to WKAR.

“We go to the extreme example of a Dr. Anderson, which is very, very different than what ex-President Schlissel is being accused of,” Moore said. “But they’re sort of along the same continuum of what happens when people are made untouchable and that’s part of the culture that has to change.”

Robert Stone, 71, who also says he was sexually assaulted by Anderson, slammed the school’s appointment of Coleman in Schlissel’s wake.

“For the university to reach back and rehire a 78-year-old fossil from the last decade, who sat in that chair for all of those years and instituted none of the changes that are necessary at the University of Michigan, I would say I am not optimistic and that’s an understatement,” Stone said, per WKAR.