Former Michigan Football Star Will Continue Protests Over Sex Abuse After Settlement

A former University of Michigan football star has vowed to keep his blue-and-white camper parked outside of the school president’s home—a form of protest he’s been doing since October—following the school’s $490 million settlement over sex abuse allegations.

But Jon Vaughn, who played for the Wolverines in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s before joining the NFL, claims the money isn’t enough after he and over 1,000 other students accused the school’s sports doctor Robert Anderson of sex abuse, per the Associated Press.

“We’ve only really scratched the surface and touched the tip of the iceberg on how insidious this atrocity is,” Vaughn said. “That’s why I’m staying. The entire truth has not come out.”

Anderson, who died in 2008, worked at the school from 1966 to 2003 and students have accused him of sexually abusing them for three decades. Initial allegations hit in 2018, with more coming in 2020, and a school spokesperson later said that some people on campus were aware of earlier accusations—latest creating an allegation hotline in 2020. Vaughn says Anderson gave him 50 prostate exams during his time with the team.

“He made the comment, ‘I see you had cancer in your family history,’ and asked, ‘You have any other relative with cancer?’” Vaughn said. “In that exam, he then raped me digitally for the first time.”

Exams would require “testicular cancer screening and a prostate cancer screening,” the former football player added, as he and his teammates “were in a constant state of being uncomfortable but learning to compartmentalize things to get the job done.”

Vaughn shared that the alleged abuse impacted him for the rest of his life, from his NFL career onward. At times, he neglected to go to doctors, which had negative setbacks. But Vaughn still wants answers, and says he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.

“Michigan built us for this fight,” he said. “They have no idea who we are.”