As Strauss victims and students supported statutes of limitations bill, Ohio State

In a Sept. 1, 2019, email, Perera gave Shimp several “items of general concern” about the bill, including the delay of mediation, the retroactive nature of the bill and potential distortion of the insurance market. Shimp included several of Perera’s points in his testimony, which he sent to Perera the day before the hearing.

Shimp did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Snyder-Hill said he attended the hearing at which Shimp testified. He said he was not surprised to learn that Ohio State helped Shimp write his testimony — he thought as much when he heard it.

“It just goes to show what they’re like,” Snyder-Hill said. “Like, ‘We’ll say something and we’ll act like we don’t have a stance or we can’t have a stance, but then we’ll send in our minion to do this.’ ”

Shimp wasn’t supposed to be the only person testifying against the bill on behalf of the university, according to the records. Rastauskas and Perera also met with the Inter-University Council of Ohio, the council of the state’s 14 public universities, about the bill.

Rastauskas sent Bruce Johnson, president of the Inter-University Council, a draft of the testimony he was set to give at a Civil Justice Committee hearing.

Like Shimp’s testimony, the testimony the university prepared for the Inter-University Council touched on the retroactive nature of the bill and its narrow scope.

“Instead of arguing over unconstitutional retroactive legislation, we should focus our efforts on preventing anything like this from ever happening again,” the unused testimony reads. “In the more than 20 years since Strauss worked at Ohio State, Ohio’s universities have made, and will continue to make, significant changes in adressing sexual misconduct and abuse.”

Bruce Johnson declined to comment.

Rastauskas, Perera and other administrators in the Office of Government Affairs referred The Lantern to Ben Johnson for comment.

Ben Johnson said in an email the university spoke “with elected officials, interested parties and other civic partners” regarding the bill, as it typically does with legislation relevant to the university. He did not provide a reason for why Bruce Johnson never testified.