Michigan Received Warnings About Anderson. He Stayed Until 2003.

In a July 1975 letter to his University of Michigan wrestling coach, Tad DeLuca complained about the care he received from physician Robert Anderson. “Something is wrong with Dr. Anderson,” he wrote. “Regardless of what you were there for, he asks that you ‘drop your drawers’ and cough.” DeLuca also said he no longer wanted to be an athlete, but offered to return to wrestling if he was treated as a man and his welfare was not overlooked.

Coach Bill Johannesen wrote back on July 24, removing DeLuca from the team without addressing the Anderson complaint. The next day, athletic director Don Canham notified DeLuca that his financial aid would not continue for the coming school year, citing his stated wish to stop being an athlete. The university-commissioned WilmerHale investigation later examined those letters. Its report said there was no way to know whether Canham had read or even seen DeLuca’s letter. DeLuca himself did not believe his scholarship was revoked because he complained about Anderson.

That less-specific warning about Anderson’s examinations was one part of a much larger record of complaints. WilmerHale’s May 2021 report concluded that university officials knew as early as 1975 that Anderson had been accused of sexual misconduct, according to The Detroit News. More than two dozen university employees had been told about his alleged behavior over his career. Several employees reported him after learning of complaints, but most of the people whom patients told—including some powerful university figures—did not act to stop him. Anderson remained employed until 2003. He died in 2008.

Survivors also made specific allegations about what Canham and football coach Bo Schembechler personally knew. A former student football announcer, identified in a lawsuit as John Doe EB17, said Anderson assaulted him when he sought treatment for migraines. According to his account, Schembechler responded angrily in 1982 and directed him to Canham’s office to report what had happened. The former student alleged that Canham ignored the complaint. These were allegations in a lawsuit and at a press conference, not adjudicated findings against either official.

Another former football player, Gilvanni Johnson, reported that he told Schembechler about an assault in 1982. In an account reported by Michigan Public, Johnson said the coach promised to address it with medical staff but apparently did not. Johnson reported that Anderson subsequently assaulted him another 15 to 20 times.

In 2018, DeLuca wrote to athletic director Warde Manuel, prompting a criminal investigation. The Washtenaw County prosecutor declined to pursue charges, largely because Anderson was dead. In February 2020, another former patient, Robert Julian Stone, shared his account with The Detroit News because he feared the university would bury the case. The coverage brought a 16-month university police investigation into public view. Michigan hired WilmerHale the following month.

The university announced a $490 million civil settlement in January 2022 and said on September 16 that it had been finalized after receiving the required consent from 98 percent of claimants. It allocated $460 million for approximately 1,050 initial claimants and reserved $30 million for additional people who chose to participate before July 31, 2023. Individual payments would vary with circumstances; the claimants and their attorneys, not the university, would determine the division. Michigan offered an apology for Anderson’s abuse.