Story highlights For decades, a USC gynecologist's behavior drew complaints

Witnesses told the Los Angeles Times about inappropriate touching, comments

"It is not clear" why the doctor was allowed to remain in his position, school president says

(CNN) Complaints about a gynecologist for students at the University of Southern California went back decades. His behavior included sexual and racial comments, accounts of improper touching during pelvic exams and saving photographs of patients' genitals.

But the university didn't publicly acknowledge the history or reveal a report about the former physician's misconduct at the school's student health center until after it was contacted by the Los Angeles Times last week.

"As the parent of two daughters who were undergraduates and graduate students at USC, I understand how vital it is for the university to do everything it can to care for the students who put their trust in us," Nikias wrote. "While we have no evidence of criminal conduct, we have no doubt that Dr. Tyndall's behavior was completely unacceptable. It was a clear violation of our Principles of Community, and a shameful betrayal of our values."

Though Tyndall, 71, insisted in conversations with the Los Angeles Times that he'd "done nothing wrong," more than 20 former and current USC employees interviewed by the paper offered a different story. They included nurses and medical assistants who'd served as chaperones and been in the room while Tyndall did exams. A number of them called his behavior "creepy."

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