The University of Michigan will pay $490 million to students in damages for sexual abuse they experienced at the hands of former sports doctor Robert Anderson.

Announced Wednesday, the settlement comes after 15 months of mediation. The 1,050 students are mostly male and among several generations that date all the way back to the 1960s. They will each receive $438,000, with $30 million set aside for future accusers who come forward by July 31, 2023.

The amount is among the largest made by an American university to settle sexual abuse allegations and was the largest of any that involved mostly male victims, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“We hope this settlement will begin the healing process for survivors,” Jordan Acker, chair of the Board of Regents, said in a statement. “At the same time, the work that began two years ago, when the first brave survivors came forward, will continue.”

A former director of the University Health Service, Anderson was the physician for the school’s football team and other athletic programs from 1966 until retiring in 2003. He died in 2008.

During this time at the school, he allegedly molested the students during physical examinations, many of whom required one to participate in athletic programs, and performed exams that investigators have deemed unnecessary and improper, according to The New York Times. One woman said that he gave her a pelvic exam when she only had a sore throat. A music major who was not an athlete named Bill Herndon said he saw Anderson for a urinary tract infection in 1971, and that the doctor refused to remove a needle from his arm unless he performed oral sex.

Authorities in Michigan began investigating allegations against Anderson in 2018 after Tad DeLuca, a former wrestler, wrote to them. He told police that he complained in 1975 to his coach, Bill Johannesen, and the athletics director at the time, Don Canham, about Anderson’s conduct during exams, only to be berated by Johannesen in front of his teammates, kicked off the team and stripped of his scholarship, reported NBC News. He said that Anderson used to be referred to as “Dr. Drop Your Drawers Anderson.”

While no charges could be filed since Anderson was dead and because the state’s six-year statute of limitations had expired, the investigation found that Michigan staffers were “aware of rumors and allegations of misconduct” by Anderson.

Another former student, Robert Julian Stone, wrote a letter to UM with allegations of his own and shared his story with The Detroit News. Following this, university police revealed they were investigating several accusations against Anderson. WilmerHale, a law firm hired by the university to conduct an independent inquiry, said that over two dozen employees were informed about Anderson’s actions during his nearly 40 years at the university, and that the majority did nothing to stop the abuse.

One accuser filed a suit in March 2020 against the school. Since then, other former student-athletes, pilots, medical students, gay men and a few women have come forward with accusations against the doctor. As of October, the university has paid more than $28 million in legal and other costs tied to sexual assault allegations against Anderson, reported The Detroit News. "I’m so looking forward to putting this behind me,” Stone told the news outlet.

The case echoes accusations made by hundreds of women against sports doctor Larry Nassar. The accusers brought a suit against his former employer, Michigan State University, which settled in 2018 and awarded the 332 women $500 million. Nassar, who had worked as a doctor for the USA Gymnastics federation and served at an on-campus clinic at Michigan State, pleaded guilty the year before to criminal sexual conduct. He was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison.

A sticking point for the Anderson settlement was that advocacy would cease for two bills inspired by the accusations that were introduced by Michigan lawmakers last year. The proposed legislation called for changing the statute of limitations and a government immunity law to allow accusers to bring lawsuits against UM. A rally to advocate for the bills this month was canceled, as a result.

Parker Stinar, a lawyer representing 200 accusers, says he hopes the case will bring awareness to male survivors of sexual abuse, who are not as well received by society and can be reluctant to come forward. "It has been a long and challenging journey and I believe this settlement will provide justice and healing for the many brave men and women who refused to be silenced.”