The president of the Ohio State University has resigned following the disclosure of an “inappropriate relationship” to the college’s board of trustees.
In a statement, Walter “Ted” Carter Jr, who had led the university since 2024, said that he “made a mistake in allowing inappropriate access to Ohio State leadership”.
The board of trustees said that they had accepted Carter’s resignation, based on the fact that he “had an inappropriate relationship with someone seeking public resources to support her personal business”.
“The board appreciates the president’s contributions to the university over the last two years,” the chairperson of the university’s board of trustees, John Zeiger, said in a statement.
Zeiger released Carter’s resignation note and the board’s response, in addition to a public facing statement.
“The board was surprised and disappointed to learn of this matter and takes the situation and its potential impact on the university very seriously,” Zeiger wrote in his response to Carter. “We respect your decision and appreciate your cooperation in supporting an orderly leadership transition.”
Carter began his tenure as Ohio State’s 17th president in 2024. He succeeded Kristina Johnson, who resigned from the Columbus, Ohio, institution in November 2022.
Before his role at Ohio State, Carter served as the president of the University of Nebraska from 2020 to 2023.
Carter’s resignation comes amid a challenging time for Ohio State, as the school has been forced to reckon with backlash over controversy surrounding former trustee and prominent alumnus, Les Wexner. The retail mogul had a well-documented relationship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and Wexner recently testified before a congressional committee about his relationship with the disgraced financier.
There have been growing calls for Wexner’s name to be removed from university and health system facilities since his congressional testimony 18 February.
Separately, as of February, the university had reached civil litigation settlement agreements totaling more than $60m with more than 100 survivors of sexual abuse by Richard Strauss, a physician who treated students, including Ohio State athletes. More than 100 additional plaintiffs still had litigation pending at the time of Carter’s resignation.
The university has said none of the settlements involved taxpayer, tuition or restricted donor funds, as the National Public Radio affiliate WOSU has reported.
