Wrestler adds to abuse allegations against UM doctor
Ann Arbor — An Olympic wrestler on Thursday accused a University of Michigan doctor of touching him inappropriately during medical exams at the school and said the physician’s reputation for such conduct was well known among his teammates.
Andy Hrovat, who competed for the U.S. in the 2008 Summer Olympics, told the Associated Press that the encounters with the late Dr. Robert E. Anderson happened during his freshman year in 1998.
“I would like to let people know that it’s OK to come out,” Hrovat said in an interview from his attorney’s office in Denver. “It’s OK to let your voice be heard.”
Hrovat is the first athlete to make public accusations against Anderson following complaints this week from at least six other people that the doctor sexually abused them decades ago.
The Detroit News first reported Wednesday that UM was investigating claims of sexual abuse by Anderson, a former director of the University Health Service who also spent years as a top physician for football teams by former coaches Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr. The university, The News reported, was alerted to the allegations against Anderson in July 2018.
February 21st, 2020 at 1:05 PM ^
Yeah... I was going to call that out as well.
February 21st, 2020 at 1:18 PM ^
So what? What's he saying that's incorrect?
February 21st, 2020 at 1:36 PM ^
If you have 2-5 minutes read his posting history. He just made his account to pretend to be a concerned uofm fan. It’s this topic and others as well. Kinda pathetic. But his inferiority is so deep rooted it’s hard to break away from it. I empathize with the guy.
February 21st, 2020 at 3:45 PM ^
Yeah he's not fooling anyone. lostwages is another. Anyone remember where Special Agent Utah played ball in the movie Point Break?
February 21st, 2020 at 6:33 PM ^
That’s your biggest takeaway from all of this scandal? That I’m a troll because, for personal reasons you’ll never know or understand, I picked a character from a film who happened to fictionally ball at OSU.........Man you live a pathetic life.
Yeah I’m a poser who totally knew 4 months ago when I joined that all this shit was going to break lose and did it so I could be ready to troll when it did. You got me Sherlock.
The fact your top priority in here over the fact the school is now involved in a sexual assault scandal is to sniff out the trolls tells me all I need to know about shitheads like you.
I don’t have to prove my Wolverine loyality to you or anyone else. I’m not perfect by any means, but I’m not such a loser that, even as a UM alum, I’m going to stand here and try and spin this shit as not being that bad as our rivals issues and call out anyone who does see it for what it is as a troll.
Get fucked.
February 21st, 2020 at 7:03 PM ^
I'm sorry I need more info to pass judgment. I'm guessing you weren't a U of M law grad. You're not too rational, so I think we're done here.
February 21st, 2020 at 7:18 PM ^
Being outraged over sexual assault taking place at UM > Worrying about who is being a troll on a message board=Not being rational........Got it.
And, FTR, I’m not a lawyer and I hope you’re not one either with that sense of ethics.
February 21st, 2020 at 2:45 PM ^
Yeah, pretty obvious when he uses "Our President" and "we". Sparty gonna Sparty.
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:47 AM ^
Not an MSU fan, but you are a loser.
February 22nd, 2020 at 7:41 PM ^
You are a MSU fan. And you are welcome here if you admit that and are respectful. Feel free to even disagree with people. But don’t attempt to message board catfish. Cus guess what, you may have stolen a cute profile pic, but we all know you obese and gross.
February 21st, 2020 at 9:56 AM ^
And this is why you don't throw stones at other institutions when they experience a scandal. There are shitty people literally everywhere in this world, even our beloved university.
February 21st, 2020 at 10:12 AM ^
I remember some of my friends who graduated from MSU when the PSU scandal broke, I told them this stuff could happen other places so maybe cool it on the Joe Knew talk. Said the same thing when the MSU and OSU scandals broke.
Power structure and dynamics are the same at most places, that's what needs to change. In all of these cases evil people used those structures to silence their victims. Why would anyone think those same structures and dynamics didn't exist at Michigan?
I want Michigan to start handling this with integrity and care, because up until now they've failed miserably.
February 21st, 2020 at 10:24 AM ^
Same reason we always feel that our football team should included with Alabama and Ohio State in terms of national prestige. Because we’re MICHIGAN damnit and we have a higher standard.
I’m sorry but just pisses me off. I told those smug ass fucks who delighted in seeing our rivals embroiled in these scandals, and made all kinds of jokes and snarky comments (Ped State for instance) at their expense, that they’d better be careful because we weren’t immune to it happening. Only to hear their arrogant and delusional “Oh no, we’re MICHIGAN. We would never allow that kind of stuff to occur here. We’re the leaders and best!” Bullshit.
Well now, with the Nassar scandal barely in the rear view mirror, it has happened here and people had better come to the realization that our power structure isn’t any better or more moral than the ones at any other school in the nation lest we look like even a bigger bunch of hypocrites than we already do.
February 21st, 2020 at 5:11 PM ^
F anyone who revels in seeing a sexual abuse scandal anywhere. The feeling should be sympathy for the victims and disgust with whoever enabled it, not laughing and taunting the school. Any other scandals, sure they are fair game. Not abuse tho, it impacts the victims for the rest of their life. The asshats pointing and laughing at any of them clearly have never been close with someone who was abused. You can’t laugh at it when you see how devastating it can be.
February 21st, 2020 at 10:59 PM ^
I told those smug ass fucks who delighted in seeing our rivals embroiled in these scandals
You joined the board two months ago...
February 21st, 2020 at 10:32 AM ^
I threw stones because of how those institutions handled it. Hopefully they are able to get to the bottom of this and "correct" it as best they can.
- Remove anyone who knew about it and did nothing / covered it up.
- Remove anything associated with anyone who knew about it and did nothing / covered it up.
- Assist victims emotionally, mentally, and in any other way possible. DO NOT BLAME THEM.
- Etc.
Shoot, if Harbaugh knew about this when he was a student and didn't say or do anything, throw him out too. Winning is not the priority here. The victims are.
February 21st, 2020 at 10:50 AM ^
I think this 19 months since new information came available to the current leaders at Michigan is going to be really tough to explain.
Right now, the school needs to hire a neutral 3rd party to investigate or look to the NCAA to provide some assistance. Michigan is not capable of handling this themselves, no school is. The more Michigan tries to handle it in house, the worse it looks.
So far Michigan has not only not learned from PSU and MSU, they've compounded their mistakes. The time to get out in front of this was 19 months ago, anything else looks like a cover up and an effort to silence the victims.
February 21st, 2020 at 10:56 AM ^
From the Detroit New Article: The university said its police department began investigating allegations in July 2018 and hired an outside law firm to conduct an independent inquiry.
Asked Wednesday why the university did not publicly ask victims to come forward until after being contacted by The News, UM spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said, "The university took this action based on receipt of an initial review by the external law firm and the prosecutor's decision Tuesday" not to file criminal charges.
Is that sufficient? Look to the NCAA? Why, the NCAA has no subpoena power and can't even figure out when things are ongoing right now. How the heck are they gonna be useful or even care about this. While it's horrible, I would suggest that there is are only a handful of folks in the athletic department from 2003. If Football there is probably no one, basketball, the same, hockey, the same. Softball, better ask Hutch if she knew anything.
February 21st, 2020 at 10:07 AM ^
Is there a non-nefarious reason to sit on this for 19 months? If above board, seems like you'd want this public so any victims that have quietly suffered for all these decades would know they aren't alone.
Kinda smells like the U didn't want this popping up during Nassar...
February 21st, 2020 at 10:07 AM ^
This story sounds eerily similar to OSU's; a case where it's an open secret that the team doctor is a pedophile, yet he somehow remains entrenched in the position. If it was that much of an open secret then of course Lloyd knew just like Jim Jordan knew.
If this is happening to us, and we make the same institutional mistakes as PSU, MSU, and OSU despite having the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, then we need to employ the UM scorched earth policy and fire everyone starting with the President.
February 21st, 2020 at 10:44 AM ^
It also sounds eerily similar to PSU in that this it allegedly took over a period of decades under the reign of the school’s most beloved football coaching icon.
February 21st, 2020 at 11:41 AM ^
I'd slow the roll on that comparison for now. In JoePa's case, he personally intimidated accusers and directly enabled Sandusky as he valued Sandusky more as a football coach for the sake of winning. I doubt anyone gives a shit about protecting a team doctor.
Again, if it's true that it was an open secret, then this seems more like the Jim Jordan/ Russ Helickson situation than a Joe Pa situation. Both are bad, but I doubt anything will happen to Jim Jordan.
February 21st, 2020 at 12:22 PM ^
Look, all I know is that, so far, accusations have come out that alleged these assaults took place between 1968 and 2002 and, as fate would have it that Bo Schembechler was either the HC or AD, in essence Anderson’s boss, during 22 of those 34 years.
I don’t know exactly what conclusions can yet be drawn as a result of these facts, but I can tell you that it looks pretty goddamned bad.
Either Bo was completely oblivious that a member of his staff was committing large scale sexual assaults against the school’s athletes, including members of his own football team. Or, he was aware of Anderson’s actions and felt they weren’t egregious enough to be reported and for him to be fired and/or covered them up to protect the program.
I don’t know about you, but, to me, I don’t see a scenario where Bo comes out of this looking like a winner. At best he was negligent to a staggering degree and, at worst, he participated in a criminal cover up every bit as bad as Paterno did.
February 21st, 2020 at 5:25 PM ^
Please. "...Bo was completely oblivious that a member of his staff was committing large scale sexual assault.." You are jumping to some serious conclusions, my friend. Clearly you're very eager to see UM dragged down to PSU, MSU and OSU levels here, but let's wait to see who comes forward and what information they share about whom they notified and when before we throw every member of the faculty, staff, and student body from '68 - '03 under the bus. OSU has had *177* victims of Dr. Strauss come forward and absolutely zero heat has come down on any coach, assistant coach, or administrator so far. Yeah, it's OSU, but the point still largely stands.
February 21st, 2020 at 7:32 PM ^
Oh so it’s a numbers game now is it? Well, let’s see. We’re up to 30 already and we’re only a few days in. Let me know when this thing hits the requisite number of victims where we can reasonable say “You know, it does seem awfully suspicious that Bo wouldn’t have any idea of what was taking place.”
Do you have any idea how idiotic the stuff you type sounds?
It’s clear that you’re one of the ones who took the self righteous moral high ground when it was other schools that were guilty of these acts. But, now that it’s UM who is in the crosshairs, you’re suddenly finding any reason you can to give the benefit of the doubt and make it seem “Less bad” than the other scandals.
February 21st, 2020 at 8:49 PM ^
One victim is obviously one too many. No, I don't take any moral high ground against a rival that had a sexual predator on staff. I don't condemn MSU for having Nassar on staff, I condemn them for how they protected him and doubled-down, intimidating scores of victims in the process. I condemn PSU for enabling Sandusky to abuse kids when his reputation was well established and after a rape was witnessed by an assistant coach.
You're right that I'm giving UM the benefit of the doubt right now. I've reached out to a few old classmates who were athletes and had varying degrees of contact with this guy. They never had issues with him or heard of anyone else who had issues. I'm not suggesting this proves that abuse *didn't* happen at some point in his long history, but it doesn't sound like an "open secret" type of thing if the allegations are true. Incidentally, all three mentioned that he always had a nurse present during examinations.
So with the little bit of data available from people I know and trust, my sense at the moment is that if it is a crime, it's that of Dr Anderson's (which, I'll reiterate is still awful for the victims), not the U of M.
February 21st, 2020 at 10:09 AM ^
I assume more people will come forward and the University needs to respond appropriately. People need to be held accountable for allowing this to happen.
February 21st, 2020 at 10:51 AM ^
So let's go over an important item.
For those concerned about the University running the compliance hotline: Like most large institutions the hotline is run by a 3rd party: https://secure.ethicspoint.com/domain/media/en/gui/55302/index.html
U-M has selected EthicsPoint, a third-party hotline provider, to assist us by documenting your concerns or reports of possible misconduct. The information you provide is sent to U-M confidentially and anonymously, if you choose. You have our commitment: your concerns will be heard.
So not sure why or how they should handle this differently than other compliance issues. If someone has a different thought I would be glad to learn more.
If Bo or others knew, then their legacy should definitely be rethought. However before we go down to Ann Arbor Torch and Pitchfork let's wait for the story to get out. The major difference here is that the threat to students had long passed once this became at all "public" from the current revelations. So I am far less concerned about the amount of time it took to release this. Under the current administration it seems like issues like this when the people are alive or currently employed are handled much quicker.
I feel horrible for the victims. I wish we as a society had been further along the path of supporting victims. Also I hope all of us a parents are teaching our kids that stuff like this isn't okay. I know it's not comfortable to talk about this, but horrible humans like this are all around us and we do a disservice by not teaching our kids.
February 21st, 2020 at 11:00 AM ^
Why the hell would any of the victims want to provide information to Michigan? The only ones they should be taking to are lawyers.
These hotlines aren't anything new at all, they're employed whenever there is a disaster or harm to people. Michigan's lawyers are behind it, it's a standard tactic to try to mitigate liability, it's not something being done to help the victims in any way, it's to help the University.
February 21st, 2020 at 11:24 AM ^
That hotline was in existence before this. It is how the corporate world operates... It is a 3rd party hotline. I know as I work as an Internal Auditor for a large corporation.
February 21st, 2020 at 1:28 PM ^
Yeah.. reading all of articles, it looks like the current administration has handled this pretty much by the book. The false flags that are running roughshod over this thread are screaming that UM is covering this up. But it's pretty clear that they intend to get to the bottom of this using appropriate 3rd parties and law enforcement. I was pretty fired up at first, but now realize it's being handled appropriately. I'll reserve judgement for how prior administrations handled matters once the facts come out.
February 21st, 2020 at 7:38 PM ^
That’s a strange take considering two days ago it seemed like the current administration had done a fairly decent job being on top of this. Yet, today we find out that they had essentially knew about it for at least 19 months and didn’t breathe a word of it until the accuser, out of frustration at being stonewalled, went to the press.
How does that logic work? Is this like a Star Trek mirror universe where the worse things get the better they are to you?
February 21st, 2020 at 11:01 AM ^
Said this in the similar post on this a few days ago, but if there is anything that college athletics has taught me over the last decade, its that scandal can affect any school, anytime, anywhere. Michigan is not "above" things like this happening to it. Our Michigan Difference and Michigan Men that we like to brag about so much do absolutely nothing to make Michigan immune from these kinds of issues.
I can only hope that when its Michigan's turn to face the media and general public for sins of the past, that it does the right thing and not go for self-preservation at all costs. Own up to the shit that's happened, cut away any cancer that remains, forcefully if necessary, and find a way forward.
Hell, if something came out that confirmed Bo knew about this kind of shit happening and did nothing, I'd want every statue, plaque and mural of him ripped down and done away with. Otherwise, we'd be no better than the JoePa apologists. I am NOT, repeat, NOT saying Bo knew about stuff like this, and if he did I'd like to think he would've done the right thing. I'm just making an example and saying that I hope Michigan has learned from places like Penn State, MSU, and Baylor.
February 21st, 2020 at 11:15 AM ^
Remember how everyone took such joy in Hugh Freeze being fired because he was a bible thumping hypocrite? Well the 'Michigan difference' and 'Michigan man' bullshit is how everyone else views that for us. It was always a lie, we aren't better or special, just have more money and a better brand.
February 21st, 2020 at 11:18 AM ^
Unfortunately, now that’s it’s out in the open and there are presumably going to be some major lawsuits flying soon, there are going to be a ton of lawyers telling the UM administration to not go in front of the cameras and the public and own up to everything that’s happened and show contrition for their own lack of action sooner. Because, by doing so, they are only going to increase their own legal jeopardy as well as that of the university.
The time to get ahead of this was 19 months ago when they could have come clean on their own accord, made any necessary apologies and taken charge of the investigation on their terms and hopefully come out looking like they did the right thing from a moral, ethical, and legal standpoint.
By waiting as long as they did , UM allowed the toothpaste out of the tube and there is almost no way in hell UM’s legal team is going to let the leadership stand in front of the media and say “Yeah, we really screwed up on this one, but we accept responsibility and want to make it right.” No matter how loud the schools alumni and supporters scream for them to do it.
UM’s lawyers don’t care about doing the right thing from a moral/PR standpoint. They’re only concerned with the law and their job is to use it to limit the amount of money and other punishments the school may suffer.
February 21st, 2020 at 3:18 PM ^
I'm no lawyer and maybe I'm just being naive, but if the way Michigan chooses to respond to this is just hide away so it can ride out the storm until the media flocks to the next scandal du jour, then its no better than MSU or PSU. And they'd be hard-pressed to ever get another dollar from me.
I'm just your run of the mill alum. I'm sure they couldn't care less what I think about their moral obligations. But for a school that likes to prop itself up as being the leader and best, as always knowing how to do the right thing at the right time, that would all get torn away overnight, and Michigan would be seen the same way every other school is that gets embroiled in scandal. An amoral institution which cares only about its financial interest and self-preservation.
But hey, I guess that's the world we live in now. And what a depressing place its become.
February 21st, 2020 at 5:24 PM ^
Well said, but I’m optimistic that this will finally be handled the right way, albeit far too late. With the roadmap already written on what not to do by the MSU’s of the world, I can’t imagine it will be handled anything less than exceptionally.
February 21st, 2020 at 9:36 PM ^
How would a public announcement 19 months earlier change the university’s legal exposure? Would victims decide not sue in that scenario?
February 21st, 2020 at 11:02 AM ^
Okay, now this is getting serious. I don't understand why the police aren't doing anything. This guy needs to be exhumed and hauled off to prison.
February 21st, 2020 at 11:13 AM ^
Oh man this is just shitty. I knew Andy when I lived in Ann Arbor and was so hoping not to see his name when I opened this. What a goddamn awful thing. If the university covered this shit up, heads need to roll.
February 21st, 2020 at 11:23 AM ^
Stone said West told him he did the right thing by contacting the media because it "forced the hand" of the prosecutor's office, and accusers needed an update.
"He said I was right in my assumptions that they were just sitting on it and not doing anything," Stone said. "They are now doing something. That can't undo what happened to me and the other men, so they have to have some sort of face-saving modus operandi in order to make themselves like they are doing something. That's what they have to do and it's what they should do."
This was a cover up.
February 21st, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
Wow...I remember way back when people were pointing to PSU/Sandusky saying that it could never happen at UofM, but here we are.
This is proof that society, even in very progressive and liberal educational institutions has a long way to go in order to protect basic human rights.
February 21st, 2020 at 11:30 AM ^
The older I get, the harder it gets to support this program.
February 21st, 2020 at 12:01 PM ^
Amen.
Real tired of all the tough talk about how we're the best and do things the right way yet we always come up small when it matters, competitively and now morally.
February 21st, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
Well said
February 21st, 2020 at 12:11 PM ^
^^^This post
February 21st, 2020 at 12:16 PM ^
I'm assuming Brian is going to come out with a flamethrower on U of M administration once he gets a handle on the facts.
February 21st, 2020 at 4:31 PM ^
Just like he did for zavier when the cops covered it up!!
No story here like theres no story there
February 21st, 2020 at 12:18 PM ^
IF... and that's a capitalized "if", Bo knew about this... then I can't imagine Mo and Lloyd not knowing, and it would stand to reason that some of the other Michigan faithful close to the program and athletes would have heard about it... they may not have been able to verify the accusations but they sure as hell should have investigated. (Harbaugh would be one on that list...)
February 21st, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
Bo was the HC or AD for 22 years when Anderson was allegedly committing these acts, including against members of the football team.
What do you think the odds are, in all that time, he was never informed that Anderson was apparently involved in some medical practices that were highly concerning?
I don’t know about you but, if I had to wager a large amount of money on Bo having some knowledge about what was taking place or being totally oblivious to it all, I know where I’d be placing my bet.
I have a feeling Carr and Moeller might be asked some questions soon that they really don’t want to answer.