Wexner name to remain on Ohio State buildings despite Epstein-driven protests

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Retail magnate Les Wexner’s name will not be removed from several Ohio State University buildings, a university official announced Friday, despite hundreds of complaints over his close association with the late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein,

The determination comes in arguably the highest-profile of the denaming protests to arise at U.S. universities this year in the wake of the release of the Epstein files. The documents contained references to numerous wealthy donors — including Wexner, Steve Tisch, Casey Wasserman, Glenn Dubin and Howard Lutnick — whose names appeared on campus buildings across the country. Universities resisted renaming in almost every case.

At Ohio State, Wexner’s name adorns the Wexner Center for the Arts, named for his father; the Les Wexner Football Complex, which Epstein himself helped get renamed; and the OSU Wexner Medical Center, a towering research hospital overlooking the Olentangy River.

In his letter, Interim Executive Vice President and Provost of Academic Affairs Trevor Brown said that an advisory committee tapped with reviewing the issue had conducted a “thoughtful and thorough analysis” that failed to turn up the “substantial evidence” of misconduct by Wexner necessary to justify stripping his name from the buildings. He noted that the panel lacks the power to conduct its own investigations, so must merely review the evidence before it.

He also noted that Wexner and his wife, Abigail, are prominent community members and generous donors to the university, creating “a high bar for removing a name.”

Brown said the committee’s review made clear that Wexner had faced allegations of misconduct but has never been charged with or convicted of a crime.

Documents released by the Justice Department showed that the FBI labeled Wexner as a potential co-conspirator after Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019. A spokesperson for the billionaire said Wexner provided background information, was told he was not a target of the investigation and was never contacted again. He repeated his denials of any wrongdoing in February at a congressional deposition.

“Mr. Wexner has denied these allegations, including under oath,” Brown wrote in his Friday letter, “and if I were to ask the committee to conduct further review, you would be in the nearly impossible position of searching for substantial evidence of misconduct where law enforcement entities, Congressional committees and international media outlets have not discovered such evidence.”

Steve Snyder-Hill, an Ohio State alumnus and former athlete who helped lead the charge to remove Wexner’s name from the university’s buildings, said the decision was “expected” based on “how horrible they have been fighting sexual assault survivors for over eight years.”

Snyder-Hill was among hundreds of former student-athletes and other alumni who say they were abused by Dr. Richard Strauss when he was a team physician at the university. Strauss died in 2005, before allegations against him came to light. His alleged victims say they were abused by Strauss during his two decades at the school, and that Ohio State officials failed to stop him despite knowing about complaints.

Snyder-Hill said it’s insulting to all sexual abuse survivors — including Ohio’s newly elected governor, Dr. Amy Acton — “(t)hat they would rather keep an association with a friend of Epstein because he pays them ‘lots of money.’”

“Over 521 survivors, alumni and general public submitted requests to remove his name, as well,” he said. “OSU just gave them all the middle finger.”

A spokesperson for Wexner declined comment.