USC President Steps Down

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - USC President C.L. Max Nikias, under fire over misconduct and reporting failures at the student health center involving former campus gynecologist George Tyndall, agreed today to step down.

Rick Caruso, a member of the USC Board of Trustees, said in a statement that Nikias and the trustees' Executive Committee, which Caruso chairs, ``have agreed to begin an orderly transition and commence the process of selecting a new president.''

The letter did not say when C.L. Max Nikias would leave his post. The decision comes after dozens of professors, students and alumni called for Nikias' resignation in the wake of the scandal. A 2016 internal investigation found Dr. George Tyndall had conducted inappropriate pelvic exams and made sexually offensive remarks to patients. The university did not report the matter to the state medical board.