4 Jul 2025
Power dynamics and the cost of institutional silence
The new HBO documentary Surviving Ohio State exposes a harrowing saga of abuse and cover-up at one of America’s largest universities, forcing a confrontation with the power dynamics that allowed the scandal to fester. Ohio State University (OSU) is a collegiate-sports powerhouse, pouring hundreds of millions into athletics and basking in the prestige of national championships. The Guardian’s Andrew Lawrence points out OSU’s brand is so dominant that “even now few really associate the university with one of the most shocking and widespread sex-abuse scandals in US history.” Surviving Ohio State shatters that complacency. Over two decades (1978–1998), Dr Richard Strauss, a once-respected team physician, sexually abused at least 177 male students with university records revealing over 2,800 instances of alleged misconduct, including 170 rapes. It is an almost incomprehensible scale of harm, made possible by profound imbalances of power: a trusted doctor exploiting young athletes, and an institution that chose reputational protection over student safety.
From the outset, Surviving Ohio State makes clear how power and silence intersected to enable Strauss’s predation. An independent investigation found OSU officials knew of complaints as early as 1979, just one year into Strauss’s tenure, when a women’s fencing coach raised alarms, yet no meaningful action was taken until 1996. Strauss continued treating (and hurting) students for years, even being kept on as a tenured faculty member and granted emeritus status upon retirement. In practical terms, this means that those in authority heard about abuse and effectively looked the other way. Why? The documentary suggests that protecting the university’s reputation and powerful athletics programme took precedence. Strauss was a Navy veteran, a prominent medical figure, and part of OSU’s proud sports machinery, whereas his victims were young men taught to trust their doctor and respect the chain of command. The power dynamic was glaring: a doctor with unquestioned authority over student-athletes’ health and scholarships versus students who feared that speaking up might jeopardise their dreams.
Survivors’ voices in the film drive home this imbalance. Many of Strauss’s victims were scholarship athletes who literally depended on him to be cleared for competition. “I kept thinking, who am I gonna tell?” recalls former hockey player Al Novakowski after an especially brutal assault. In one shocking account, a referee tells how he reported Strauss’s misconduct in the locker-room, only to have Coach Jordan shrug it off: “It’s Strauss. You know what he does.” That casual dismissal from a figure of authority offers a glimpse at how a culture of denial can contribute to prolonging harm and limiting opportunities for victims to get help.
The lessons of Surviving Ohio State resonate far beyond one university. The core theme of power dynamics enabling abuse applies to schools, workplaces, and any environment where hierarchies exist. In schools, we’ve seen how a teacher or coach can misuse authority to groom or harm students, and how often others hesitate to challenge a popular staff member or protect the school’s reputation. The dynamics at OSU mirror those in secondary schools where complaints about a star coach or long-time teacher have been brushed aside until multiple victims come forward years later. Young people are taught to respect adults, making it difficult to speak out when that respect is betrayed. If school administrators are more concerned with avoiding scandal than with student safety, the imbalance persists, and abusers can operate with impunity.
Similarly, in the corporate world, power imbalances underlie many workplace harassment and abuse cases. A high-ranking executive or top-performing manager can create a climate of fear that keeps subordinates silent. The #MeToo movement has shown how entire companies sometimes protected powerful harassers for years, from Hollywood moguls to corporate CEOs, by silencing accusers or paying settlements with nondisclosure agreements. Whether it’s a university doctor, a school principal, or a corporate boss, the pattern is similar: unchecked power + lack of accountability = fertile ground for abuse. The Ohio State scandal is a particularly egregious example, but its elements are sadly common. That is why actively addressing power dynamics is crucial in any institution. Everyone, from parents and students to employees and executives, should recognise the warning signs of an environment where one person (or a small group) holds too much sway and where speaking up is discouraged.
So, how can schools and organisations break this cycle and mitigate the risk of harm? A few practical steps emerge from these hard lessons:
Encourage a Speak-Up Culture: Offer multiple confidential reporting options, anonymous web forms, external helplines, ombudspeople, and back whistle-blowers publicly. Clear anti-retaliation rules show safety outranks reputation and stop silence born of fear.
Accountability from the Top: Apply the code of conduct to everyone, whatever their status. Use independent investigators for serious allegations and publish outcomes. Transparency beats a PR cover-up and would have halted Strauss far sooner.
Empower Bystanders and Allies: Train students, staff, and colleagues to spot red flags and act. Simple “interrupt & refer” scripts and peer-support networks spread protective power and break the bystander effect.
Education and Training: Run age-appropriate lessons on consent, grooming tactics, and boundaries. Scenario-based workshops help people recognise abuse, respond empathetically, and debunk myths.
Surviving Ohio State is a sobering reminder of the human cost when power dynamics skew to favour the few over the many. It shows how an environment that idolised its sports heroes and authority figures ended up betraying the very people it was meant to nurture. Yet the film also carries a note of hope through the survivors’ resilience. Their voices, once stifled by fear, now amplified on a national platform, are driving overdue conversations about accountability. Their courage invites every school and organisation to ask: Are we doing enough to ensure nothing like this ever happens here? Answering that question honestly is the first step. The next is acting on it, by challenging toxic power imbalances, listening to those with less power, and refusing to sacrifice individual safety for institutional prestige. True change happens when prevention becomes as important as PR, and when the measure of a community’s integrity is how it treats its most vulnerable members.
Ultimately, preventing abuse is about shifting power towards transparency, empathy, collective power, and justice. The Ohio State survivors’ fight, much like that of other abuse survivors in recent years, shows that those who were once powerless can reclaim power by speaking truth to power. Their story is a call to all of us to build institutions where winning is not measured in dollars or trophies, but in the safety and respect afforded to every member.
Information and support for anyone affected by sexual harm is available through the following services in Aotearoa:
· Wellington Rape Crisis – Free support for anyone affected by sexual violence. Call 04 801 8973 or visit wellingtonrapecrisis.org.nz
· WellStop – Crisis support and counselling for people affected by sexual harm. Call 0800 935 5786 or visit wellstop.org.nz
· HELP Auckland – Crisis support and counselling for survivors of sexual abuse. Call 0800 623 1700 or visit helpauckland.org.nz
· Safe to Talk / Kōrero Mai Ka Ora – 24/7 national sexual harm helpline. Call 0800 044 334, text 4334, or visit safetotalk.nz
· RespectEd Aotearoa – Prevention education and advice.
References:
Andrew Lawrence. (2025, June 17). “We were powerless”: Inside the devastating Ohio State sexual-abuse scandal. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com
Liebman, L. (2025, June 17). Surviving Ohio State details Dr Richard Strauss’s decades of sexual abuse. Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com
Neese, A. W. (2025, June 17). HBO doc spotlights Ohio State sex-abuse scandal. Axios Columbus. https://www.axios.com/local/columbus
Rummler, O. (2019, May 17). Report finds Ohio State doctor sexually abused at least 177 students. Axios. https://www.axios.com
The Ohio State University. (2025). Strauss Investigation [Website]. https://straussinvestigation.osu.edu