Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos SLAMS USC for 'heartbreaking and inexcusable' failure in 'ignoring' claims campus gynecologist sexually abused students for years

University of Southern California was ordered to undergo three years of federal monitoring after systematic failures were cited in the school's response to allegations of sexual misconduct by a former campus gynecologist.

The monitoring ordered by the US Department of Education comes amid sweeping changes that were mandated in USC's Title IX procedures, the federal law protecting students from sex-based discrimination.

The department on Thursday delivered a stinging rebuke of the Los Angeles school's handling of multiple accusations made against Dr. George Tyndall.

'This total and complete failure to protect students is heartbreaking and inexcusable,' US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said in a statement announcing the results of the federal Title IX probe.

'Too many at USC turned a blind eye to evidence that Dr. Tyndall was preying on students for years

'We are grateful to every survivor who came forward to share their story with our (Office of Civil Rights) investigators,'' she said.

'Because of your bravery, we can now work with the university to ensure this never happens to another student on USC's campus.''

A Department of Education investigation found that the university was informed of possible misconduct by Tyndall toward five patients between 2000 and 2009.

However, the school 'failed to investigate, assess whether interim measures were needed, determine whether the five patients were subjected to sex discrimination or ensure that steps were taken to prevent recurrence of the conduct and correct its effects for patients who complained and/or other patients,' the department said.

Federal education officials also said the university failed to investigate complaints that Tyndall was conducting pelvic exams without gloves and engaged in 'digital penetration of patients' and conducted 'full-body skin checks.'

A USC representative said university officials were preparing a statement in response to the department's announcement, KNBC reports.

More than 700 women accused the 72-year-old former USC physician of sexual misconduct during the span of his career.

Under the terms of a settlement in a $215 million class action lawsuit agreed to last month, the university will pay around 18,000 former patients, including those who did not accuse him of misconduct, a minimum of $2,500 apiece.

Meanwhile, Tyndall remains jailed and is facing 29 felony charges in connection with the sexual assault of 16 patients.

Prosecutors say the patients were abused during visits to the student health center for annual exams or other treatment.

Tyndall, who is married, practiced at the university for close to 30 years.

The criminal charges include inappropriately touching the women, who were between 17 and 29 years of age. 

Tyndall's attorney say the gynecologist is suffering from heart problems and the onset of diabetes. Tyndall denies all the charges that have been made against him, his lawyer says.

USC still must answer hundreds of suits filed by women who have accused Tyndall in state court. Lawyers for the alleged victims have criticized the federal class-action settlement, saying it was not enough.

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Senate’s ‘Energy Innovation’ Bill Wasteful, Redundant

“I want to tell everyone today you are either for children or against children when it comes to educational freedom and choice in education.”

So said Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, who spoke Thursday with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos at the Conservative Political Action Conference about the need to bring more education opportunities to America’s children.

Conway said support for school choice is broad among the general public, yet a deep partisan divide exists on the issue, as the Trump administration has found.

“There is no ‘but,’ there is no excuse, there is no talk of ‘But the teacher unions … ,’” she told the CPAC crowd. “You are either helping these brown and black and rural children get more opportunities, or you’re not.”

Choice in public education often is blocked by liberals at the state level who protect unions whose members work for badly run public schools, Conway noted.

Many children, DeVos said, are being “failed by schools that aren’t working for them, that aren’t the right fit.”

Trump is committed to ensuring that every child has access to a quality education, DeVos said, no matter where they come from.

She also warned about the problem of federal interference in education and touted the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the government’s role.

“President Trump campaigned on getting rid of Common Core, which was a massive overreach on the part of the federal government,” DeVos said. “We’ve done that.”

Keeping power over education in the hands of states, local communities, and families is essential, she said.

“There’s too many people in this city [who think] that the federal government has the answers for everything,” DeVos said, referring to the nation’s capital a few miles away from the conference in Maryland. “And we know that’s not the case.”

DeVos promoted legislation, the Education Freedom Scholarship, that she said “would dramatically improve opportunities for more than a million kids nationwide.” She added:

This proposal is one that would create a federal tax credit in the form of scholarships to give rocket fuel to what states are already doing to advance choices and freedom in education.

We stand for freedom and opportunity, and we trust that parents and families are best to make decisions on behalf of their children, and the other side trusts the federal government to make these decisions.

She said the federal government long ago demonstrated that it can’t fix education from the top down:

Over the last 40 years, since the Department of Education was founded, we’ve spent over $1 trillion at the federal level alone with the express purpose of closing the achievement gap. Not only has it not closed and narrowed one little bit, it has actually gone wider in some measures and some communities.

CPAC, the largest annual national gathering of conservative activists, runs Thursday through Saturday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington.

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Australian Christian College settles case with former teacher Rachel Colvin over same-sex beliefs

Ballarat Christian College has settled with a former teacher who claimed its teachings against same-sex marriage discriminated against her, with principal Ken Nuridin saying the case has taken an enormous toll on his small school.

Rachel Colvin’s case against the school has been held up by faith-based communities as a key example of the need for a religious discrimination act following the 2017 same-sex marriage post survey.

As a result of the settlement, Ballarat Christian College in Victoria will not have to change its Statement of Faith defining marriage as a union between a man and woman and it has made no concessions on those teachings.

The Australian understands Ms Colvin will receive an undisclosed amount for loss of income and damages and will receive a positive employment reference from Ballarat Christian College.

Scott Morrison’s religious discrimination bill is still to be tabled in parliament after drafts have come under sustained attacks from both faith-based and LGBTI groups.

Mr Nuridin told The Australian that the school would continue to stand by its teachings on marriage. Ballarat Christian College principal Ken Nuridin.
“Our College provides a high quality Christian education in accordance with our beliefs,” he said.

“The claim has taken an enormous cost in time and resources already – detracting from the ability of a small school like ours to focus on what is important, the education of our students”

Christian Schools Australia director of public policy Mark Spencer said the government needed to bring on its religious discrimination bill to protect schools like Ballarat Christian College.

“We are calling on the Commonwealth Government to ensure that the proposed Religious Discrimination Bill clearly protects Christian schools from these sort of claims,” he said.

“Christian and other faith-based schools must be able to engage staff who share their beliefs and are equipped to teach those beliefs” he said.

The Australian Christian Lobby said the case showed the need for increased protections for faith-based schools and ACL chief political officer Dan Flynn called on the government to bring forward its final bill.

“The sad reality for this school is that it took steadfast determination not to buckle under the pressure of a well-resourced legal attack,” he said.

“To the school’s credit, under great duress, they stood by their principles.”

“This case underlines how the religious freedom debate must make faith-based schools’ legal rights crystal clear.

“The ACL calls upon the government to ensure a case like Ballarat Christian College never happens again.”

Following same sex marriage being legalised in December 2017, the school amended its Statement of Faith through its constitution outlining its position on marriage.

The teacher formally notified the school of her objections to the statement in a letter on August 14, and was directed to meet with the chaplain and a female member of the school leadership to discuss her views.

The college indicated she was free to hold her views personally but was required to support and teach in accordance with the beliefs of the school, which Ms Colvin was allegedly unwilling to do.

As well as the positive reference for Mrs Colvin, the payout, and the school’s secured right to keep teaching against same-sex marriage; the parties will issue a statement of ‘mutual regret’. The Australian has contacted Ms Colvin’s lawyers Clayton Utz and LGBTI rights group Equality Australia, which backed the former teacher’s case.

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