Per the LA Times:
USC President C.L. Max Nikias, whose tenure was marked by a significant boost in the university's prestige and fundraising prowess but tarnished by a series of damaging scandals, is stepping down from his post, the university's Board of Trustees announced Friday.
The move comes after more than a week of uproar over the university's handling of a longtime campus gynecologist accused of misconduct toward female students. More than 300 people, most of them former female patients of Dr. George Tyndall, have since come forward to USC, many with allegations of mistreatment and sexual abuse that date back to the early 1990s.
The revelations published by The Times heightened long-festering concerns about university leaders' ethics and management style and sparked calls for Nikias to resign.
"President Nikias and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees have agreed to begin an orderly transition and commence the process of selecting a new president," Rick J. Caruso, a USC trustee, said in a letter to the campus Friday. "We recognize the need for change and are committed to a stable transition."
"There is nothing more sacred to this board than the well-being of our students," Caruso added in the letter. "We will be guided solely by what is in the best interest of this great university."
No time was given for when Nikias would be replaced.
Former USC gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall accused of inappropriate behavior
A prolific fundraiser during his eight years as president, Nikias pushed USC to imagine itself as an elite global research university and to dramatically expand and renovate its South Los Angeles campus. He oversaw a major construction boom that transformed parts of the campus community and extended USC's ties to China and the Pacific Rim.
University officials maintain that Nikias first learned of misconduct allegations against Tyndall in the fall of 2017.
The Times reported that in a career spanning nearly three decades, Tyndall was the subject of repeated complaints from staff and patients about inappropriate comsments and touching. The university barred him from treating patients only after a nurse, frustrated that her complaints had gone ignored, reported Tyndall to the campus rape crisis center.
An internal investigation concluded that Tyndall had sexually harassed students and performed pelvic exams that departed from current medical standards. Yet administrators and USC's general counsel struck a secret deal with Tyndall, allowing him to resign with a financial payout.
USC opted not to report Tyndall to the Medical Board of California when he resigned, nor were patients notified of the allegations against him. The university insisted it was under no legal obligation to report Tyndall to the medical board, but later acknowledged that "in hindsight," it should have. Administrators filed a belated complaint in March.
Revelations about Tyndall prompted scores of women to come forward and publicly recount their experiences in his exam room. At least 20 plaintiffs have filed civil lawsuits against USC and the physician, alleging they were abused or sexually assaulted and that complaints about his treatment were disregarded. The Los Angeles Police Department is now investigating some of the women's allegations.
Nikias faced a torrent of criticism after The Times' investigation was published, including online petitions from alumni demanding that USC's trustees fire him. Hundreds of prominent faculty members signed a searing public letter that declared Nikias had "lost the moral authority to lead," and the body representing the university's faculty overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for Nikias' resignation.
Nikias enjoyed the public backing of USC's Board of Trustees amid the furor. Earlier this week, John Mork, the chairman of the board and a longtime friend of Nikias, said the trustees' executive committee "has full confidence in President Nikias' leadership, ethics, and values and is certain that he will successfully guide our community forward."
Nikias was selected in 2010 to become USC's 11th president and from the outset, he announced a fundraising campaign aimed at doubling the endowment in 10 years.
"We can move the needle and move this university into what I call the pantheon of undisputed elite universities," Nikias said at the time.
Steven B. Sample, his predecessor, was president for 19 years and helped catapult USC from 51st to 26th place in U.S. News & World Report's rankings of national research universities.
Under Nikias, fundraising has been key to USC's climb in academic rankings and research profile. The university now has about 450 employees dedicated full-time to raising money, and Nikias regularly hopscotched the globe to court alumni, parents and other potential donors, sometimes in the company of the school's marching band.
Nikias was considered an obvious choice to lead, but he told The Times in 2010 that he put in months of preparation for his 90-minute interview with the university's trustees.
"One thing I learned in my career is that you never, never take anything for granted," he said.
Born in Cyprus, Nikias earned his undergraduate degree in Greece before receiving his master's and doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
He obtained his U.S. citizenship in 1988, joined USC's faculty in 1991 and was engineering school dean from 2001 to 2005, during which time he helped garner more than $200 million in donations.
For all the success of the Nikias era, it was also dogged by a spate of embarrassing episodes, particularly in the school's big-ticket sports programs. Earlier this year, USC fired assistant basketball coach Tony Bland in connection with his arrest last September in an FBI bribery investigation.
In 2015, USC removed football head coach Steve Sarkisian after repeated reports of his excessive drinking and related boorish behavior. A Times investigation found that Sarkisian had similar problems in his previous job at the University of Washington, which USC either failed to examine or ignored.
USC President C.L. Max Nikias, whose tenure was marked by a significant boost in the university's prestige and fundraising prowess but tarnished by a series of damaging scandals, is stepping down from his post, the university's Board of Trustees announced Friday.
The move comes after more than a week of uproar over the university's handling of a longtime campus gynecologist accused of misconduct toward female students. More than 300 people, most of them former female patients of Dr. George Tyndall, have since come forward to USC, many with allegations of mistreatment and sexual abuse that date back to the early 1990s.
The revelations published by The Times heightened long-festering concerns about university leaders' ethics and management style and sparked calls for Nikias to resign.
"President Nikias and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees have agreed to begin an orderly transition and commence the process of selecting a new president," Rick J. Caruso, a USC trustee, said in a letter to the campus Friday. "We recognize the need for change and are committed to a stable transition."
"There is nothing more sacred to this board than the well-being of our students," Caruso added in the letter. "We will be guided solely by what is in the best interest of this great university."
No time was given for when Nikias would be replaced.
Former USC gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall accused of inappropriate behavior
A prolific fundraiser during his eight years as president, Nikias pushed USC to imagine itself as an elite global research university and to dramatically expand and renovate its South Los Angeles campus. He oversaw a major construction boom that transformed parts of the campus community and extended USC's ties to China and the Pacific Rim.
University officials maintain that Nikias first learned of misconduct allegations against Tyndall in the fall of 2017.
The Times reported that in a career spanning nearly three decades, Tyndall was the subject of repeated complaints from staff and patients about inappropriate comsments and touching. The university barred him from treating patients only after a nurse, frustrated that her complaints had gone ignored, reported Tyndall to the campus rape crisis center.
An internal investigation concluded that Tyndall had sexually harassed students and performed pelvic exams that departed from current medical standards. Yet administrators and USC's general counsel struck a secret deal with Tyndall, allowing him to resign with a financial payout.
USC opted not to report Tyndall to the Medical Board of California when he resigned, nor were patients notified of the allegations against him. The university insisted it was under no legal obligation to report Tyndall to the medical board, but later acknowledged that "in hindsight," it should have. Administrators filed a belated complaint in March.
Revelations about Tyndall prompted scores of women to come forward and publicly recount their experiences in his exam room. At least 20 plaintiffs have filed civil lawsuits against USC and the physician, alleging they were abused or sexually assaulted and that complaints about his treatment were disregarded. The Los Angeles Police Department is now investigating some of the women's allegations.
Nikias faced a torrent of criticism after The Times' investigation was published, including online petitions from alumni demanding that USC's trustees fire him. Hundreds of prominent faculty members signed a searing public letter that declared Nikias had "lost the moral authority to lead," and the body representing the university's faculty overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for Nikias' resignation.
Nikias enjoyed the public backing of USC's Board of Trustees amid the furor. Earlier this week, John Mork, the chairman of the board and a longtime friend of Nikias, said the trustees' executive committee "has full confidence in President Nikias' leadership, ethics, and values and is certain that he will successfully guide our community forward."
Nikias was selected in 2010 to become USC's 11th president and from the outset, he announced a fundraising campaign aimed at doubling the endowment in 10 years.
"We can move the needle and move this university into what I call the pantheon of undisputed elite universities," Nikias said at the time.
Steven B. Sample, his predecessor, was president for 19 years and helped catapult USC from 51st to 26th place in U.S. News & World Report's rankings of national research universities.
Under Nikias, fundraising has been key to USC's climb in academic rankings and research profile. The university now has about 450 employees dedicated full-time to raising money, and Nikias regularly hopscotched the globe to court alumni, parents and other potential donors, sometimes in the company of the school's marching band.
Nikias was considered an obvious choice to lead, but he told The Times in 2010 that he put in months of preparation for his 90-minute interview with the university's trustees.
"One thing I learned in my career is that you never, never take anything for granted," he said.
Born in Cyprus, Nikias earned his undergraduate degree in Greece before receiving his master's and doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
He obtained his U.S. citizenship in 1988, joined USC's faculty in 1991 and was engineering school dean from 2001 to 2005, during which time he helped garner more than $200 million in donations.
For all the success of the Nikias era, it was also dogged by a spate of embarrassing episodes, particularly in the school's big-ticket sports programs. Earlier this year, USC fired assistant basketball coach Tony Bland in connection with his arrest last September in an FBI bribery investigation.
In 2015, USC removed football head coach Steve Sarkisian after repeated reports of his excessive drinking and related boorish behavior. A Times investigation found that Sarkisian had similar problems in his previous job at the University of Washington, which USC either failed to examine or ignored.
