Ann Arbor (WWJ) -- There is an uprising of alumni, students and alleged sexual abuse victims happening in Ann Arbor.
The protestors are calling to get a man connected to the former University of Michigan sports physician Robert Anderson fired, claiming he knew about sexual abuse and didn’t do anything about it. The now-deceased physician Robert Anderson is accused of molesting hundreds of athletes, mostly men.
The pressure is on assistant athletic director and trainer Paul Schmidt who worked alongside Dr. Anderson to be dismissed from the university. Schmidt joined UM in his position in 1986, according to the school’s website.
A University spokesperson says Schmidt no longer works with the football program but supports other programs as needed.
The main group behind this movement is Spotlight Michigan, a nonprofit organization of students, alleged victims and advocates from UM as well as Eastern Michigan University.
Spotlight’s spokeswoman, Emily Bir, said there is an effort to bring attention to Schmidt’s role in Anderson’s alleged sexual abuses. Along with calling attention to Schmidt’s role in these alleged sexual abuses, Bir is also assisting EMU with their allegations by former students of rapes in fraternity houses.
The plane that flew over Michigan Stadium last weekend during a game towing this banner, "FIRE SCHMIDT SIGN PETITION STOPSCHMIDT.COM" was paid for by Spotlight. The group also paid for the website domain hosting the petition demanding for Schmidt's resignation.
Spotlight Michigan also submitted a public records request to the University of Michigan for all personnel files relevant to Paul Schmidt.
There is little hope for a timely response as noted in Spotlight’s statement, “As covered by the Detroit News, the university has historically paid little attention to the required deadlines, taking months instead of days to actually provide the requested documents; and as a result, shown disrespect to survivors.”
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Spotlight said in their statement that they hope UM will use this opportunity to change the course of how they previously handle public record requests and provide the files within a reasonable time.
“If the University of Michigan truly intends to move forward and correct mistakes of the past, leadership must be more transparent and follow the law,” said in the Spotlight statement. “Survivors, students, and advocates deserve to know how the case against Dr. Robert Anderson got to where it is today – 900 victims later.”
In March 2020, Schmidt addressed a lawsuit filed against the university by a former UM football player who alleged that Anderson groped his penis and testicles "for an inordinately long period of time" during a medical exam in the 1980s. Schmidt, then a football trainer, allegedly laughed and told the athlete to "get used to that."
In that same month, UM spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said the university would carefully review this complaint against Schmidt and share it with investigators from the WilmerHale law firm which UM hired to investigate allegations against Anderson.
The WilmerHale investigative report released in May said that Schmidt told them he didn't remember making such a comment.
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"He did know at the time that Dr. Anderson performed digital rectal examinations, but Mr. Schmidt assumed they were appropriate and never thought that Dr. Anderson abused any patient," the report stated. "Mr. Schmidt held Dr. Anderson in high regard; accordingly, if a student athlete had questioned the appropriateness of Dr. Anderson’s examinations, Mr. Schmidt would have given Dr. Anderson the benefit of the doubt."
The report concluded UM officials knew as early as 1975 that Anderson had been accused of sexual misconduct, and that during his 37-year tenure "engaged in sexual misconduct with patients on countless occasions."
Schmidt was also "familiar with" students who were treated by Anderson for a cold and "had to drop their pants,” investigators said in a footnote of the report.
"He believes that Dr. Anderson may have been checking their lymph nodes for signs of an infection," the report says. "Mr. Schmidt recalls that student athletes would say, in sum or substance, 'I went in for an infection and he said drop my pants,' and Mr. Schmidt would explain that Dr. Anderson was making sure there were no enlarged lymph nodes."
The medical experts that WilmerHale consulted with were stated in the report to all agree that this was not the standard of care at the time to check lymph nodes in the groin area when examining a patient for a common cold."
Schmidt is an at-will employee at the university, according to UM. He earned $127,930 in 2020, according to a UM salary disclosure report.
On UM’s website, Schmidt’s titles include not just assistant athletic director but also head athletic trainer and rehabilitation specialist.
As of now, no criminal charges have been filed against former or present UM employees for Anderson's alleged actions.