The University of Michigan says it’s investigating multiple “disturbing and very serious” allegations of sexual abuse against a former member of its campus medical team.
Robert E. Anderson was the director of the University Health Service and spent several years as a top physician for school’s football team from 1968 until 2003 when he retired. He passed away in 2008.
In July 2018, the university quietly launched an investigation into Anderson after a former student athlete wrote to the university’s Athletic Director Warde Manuel about alleged abuse he suffered during a medical exam performed by Anderson in the early 1970s.
Robert Julian Stone claimed Anderson, a married father of three at the time, abused during a checkup on June 30, 1971. While explaining how to check for STDs, the doctor allegedly dropped his pants then reached for Stone’s hand and placed it on his penis.
Another time, Stone says Anderson performed a medically unnecessary rectal examination on him, for which he still has the official medical file written in Anderson’s handwriting.
Speaking to the Detroit News, Stone says: “When I first wrote to the university, I thought, ‘Well, Dr. Anderson was a closeted gay man,’ and I had some compassion for a man at that time in that position. Now I realize he wasn’t a closeted gay man. He was a sexual predator and that’s … a criminal thing.”
After Stone spoke out in 2018, more former student athletes came forward to say they, too, had suffered sexual abuse at the wandering hands of Anderson. The victims all described sexual misconduct and medically unnecessary exams, including rectal exams, beginning in the early 1970s and lasting all the way up through the late 1990s.
The university is now calling on any addition victims to please come forward, and has even opened a hotline for people to call.
“The allegations that were reported are disturbing and very serious,” says U-M President Mark Schlissel. “We promptly began a police investigation and cooperated fully with the prosecutor’s office.”
“As part of our commitment to understanding what happened and inform any changes we might need to make, we now are taking the next step to reach out to determine who else might be affected or have additional information to share. Every person in our community should expect to feel safe and supported.”
Stone says going public with his story wasn’t easy, but he hopes it helps encourage others to do the same.
“I don’t think any man would really want to be the face of male sexual assault survivors in the 21st century,” he says. “But if men don’t start coming forward, these things are just going to go on.”
Related: 21 men are now accusing college doctor of performing medically unnecessary rectal examinations
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Finding it hard to muster up any sympathy for these “victims” there were not children, but adults..
If you go to see a doctor for a sore throat and he begins equipping himself to go speluking in your butt and you don’t question it and actually allow it, it is NOT a sexual assault…..
rarediel
Yeah expected that response from you
charlietex
Have you ever heard about people trusting people in power? You think all people would immediately shut a doctor down? You are naive.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
charlietex: that is EXACTLY my point. Adults should never kowtow to anyone without question. Again if these “victims” were children, it would be a different point of view. However the “victims” were adults who have above average intelligence attending a prestigious university. Someone directs you to do something you are uncomfortable with that does not fit into the parameters of the situation and you do not question nor refuse to submit you are not a victim. You are a willing participant.
seaguy
But he was the a thletics program doctor, so many of his patients were there for athletic ability not because they were above average intelligence.
JAW
That Doc. was a piece of crap. What he did to those students is disgusting.
But now with it coming out, I wonder how many of those he abused had any clue. They never thought twice about it. They never saw or thought it was abuse. Most, perhaps all, lived their lives without any concern or issues. Now it comes to life and how many now feel abused and have issues?
Even the guy who broke open the abuse did not seem to have an issue, until he found out the Doc was married with kids.
Sometimes it is best to let sleeping dogs lie.
Rock-N-RollHS
Oh, please
phtdesign
HOT…
Hussain-TheCanadian
My first rectum exam happened when I was 20, by my university’s female physician, I came in with a severe fever, and among the exams she did was that. It was uncomfortable, felt weird, I asked my self why did she do this? I never went back again. I didnt feel “abused” but I did feel violated. I’ve never experienced anyone putting anything up my rectum, it felt weird, out of no where thing to do.
I dont even remember asking her why did you insert your fingers in me, or how is doing this part of treating my fever? Maybe because I was sick, vulnerable, and scared at the time?
Today I’m fully over it, well I was never traumatized, not on a conscious level. I dont even know if it was abuse or me just misunderstood what she did? Actually this is the first time I’ve ever talked about right here on this post.
Rock-N-RollHS
Lol. That’s a job I want
CurtisIsTheOne
I was 17 when I had to get examined by an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) doctor as part of my application for a Pilot’s License. He had me get up on the examining table naked on all fours. He lubed up and inserted his finger into my butt, massaged my prostate and I ejaculated like crazy all over the table. “Well,” he said, “Everything appears to be working fine”. Years later, I learned that a prostate exam was NOT a required or customary part of any medical exam done for a Pilot’s license. I was amused and shocked that the examining doctor thought I would welcome a probe of my butt. I blame all my subsequent “bottoming” on this adolescent experience. I was lubed…and primed.