A couple of scandals are brewing down Ann Arbor way.
The first involves the provost, Martin A. Philbert, who is accused of sexual misconduct. The allegations include a coverup going back some years. An investigation is ongoing.
The second involves the late Dr. Robert E. Anderson, who was a sports medicine doctor for the University of Michigan wrestling and football programs from 1967 to 2003.
Anderson's primary method of sexual abuse was to perform unnecessary examinations of the rectum and genitals on both men and women. He's also accused of more overt acts of sexual abuse.
Since Anderson died in 2008, the investigation is focusing on who knew what, and initial reports indicate that a lot of people knew, but no one did anything.
This is similar to the rumors that swirled around disgraced Michigan State physician Larry Nassar.
Interestingly, Nassar studied at Michigan, and would have been there at the same time as Anderson. Given what we have learned about sexual predators and the networks they establish, one can't wonder if there was something about the culture there that either created or sheltered sexual predators.
For example, we now know that the Catholic Church was the unwitting host to just such a network of homosexual priests who sheltered each other from discovery and/or punishment. In this case, the conspiracy theory has proven true, and it surely is not impossible that for people of a certain disposition, word would go out that certain schools are friendly to people of their kind.
Money draws all sorts of grifters and the University of Michigan medical school is highly prestigious. That prestige would not only offer great opportunities for predators but also shelter them since the university would do all in its power to shelter an embarrassing discovery.
Given that Anderson was the team doctor under the sainted Bo Schembechler, revelations that harmed the legendary Bo would not be well received. He was also on staff at the time of the Skunk Bears' last national title in 1997.
This means Anderson was in a far more central position within the sports department than Nassar, and both his victim pool and the apparent coverup implicate the highest figures in the school.
Perhaps that's why the coverup outlasted Anderson's life.
It's possible that there is no link between the two, and that it was mere coincidence that their time and tactics overlapped so closely, but it would behoove investigators to interrogate Nassar if they are serious about finding the truth.
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