Ohio State University has received nearly 300 requests, including from a state senator and a state nurses association, to remove billionaire donor Les Wexner’s name from buildings because of his association with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. However, the university has yet to take any action.
Wexner’s name is on three buildings at Ohio State, where Wexner graduated in 1959. His wife Abigail’s name is also on a building at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.
Wexner, 88, the billionaire founder of LBrands, which created Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works and Abercrombie & Fitch is listed as an alleged co-conspirator of convicted child sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s in a 2019 FBI document and was deposed last week by members of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform about his relationship with Epstein.
The same document listing Wexner as a co-conspirator says there is “limited evidence of his involvement.”
“As of Feb. 18, we have received approximately 295 requests through the University Naming Review Procedure related to the Wexners, which remain under review,” university spokesperson Ben Johnson said in an email.
Nearly all of those requests were made this month as a result of the release late last month of millions of files related to the Epstein investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Wexner has denied any wrongdoing.
Epstein — who died by suicide in a New York jail 2019 after being arrested on federal sex trafficking charges — was Wexner’s personal financial adviser from 1987 to 2007.
“I was naive, foolish, and gullible to put my trust in Jeffery Epstein,” Wexner said in a three-page statement Wednesday before the deposition. “He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide. … I never saw or heard about Epstein being in the company of a minor girl.”
Read Wexner’s full statement here.
Wexner’s ties to Ohio State
Wexner is the chair of the Wexner Medical Center Board, previously served on the Ohio State University Board of Trustees, including as the chairman, and was also a founding member of The Ohio State University Foundation.
Les and Abigail Wexner, and the Limited Brands Foundation, donated, raised, or had given nearly $200 million to Ohio State, according to a 2011 university news release. An Ohio State spokesperson was unable to provide a current figure of how much money the Wexners have donated.
“Ohio State should have questions of Mr. Wexner, and Mr. Wexner’s involvement in our questions,” ranking committee member U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-California, said during a break during Wednesday’s deposition.
Ohio State’s spokesperson referred the Ohio Capital Journal to an interview Ohio State University President Ted Carter did earlier this month on WOSU’s “All Sides with Amy Juravich” when the Capital Journal asked Ohio State questions about Wexner being named an alleged co-conspirator and the university’s response to requests to remove Wexner’s name from buildings.
“We have to remember that he’s never been indicted, he hasn’t been arrested,” Carter said on All Sides. “So we take all this very seriously, and when it comes to the naming, we’re going to go through a process with that. … There is a process, and we’ll follow that. And I don’t want to speculate on what may or may not happen with that.”
Carter said he has a professional relationship with Wexner and said he has no reason to not believe Wexner when he says he was unaware of Epstein’s crimes.
“Let’s let the facts play out,” Carter said on All Sides. “I should say right up front, how thankful and appreciative I am for Les and Abigail Wexner’s philanthropic efforts at Ohio State. Nobody has given more money to Ohio State than they as a family. … I’m appreciative of what they have done here at Ohio State.”
Ohio state Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, is calling on Ohio State to remove Wexner’s name from buildings and to remove any Ohio State University Board of Trustee member that has ties to Wexner.
“This hurts all Buckeyes around the world’s reputation to have this stain continue to be associated with our university,” he said.
DeMora filed an official request with Ohio State to remove Wexner’s name from buildings and said he has spoken to several Ohio State students who also want Wexner’s name removed.
“It makes me cringe,” DeMora said when asked what it’s like to see Wexner’s name on buildings.
“This is not a partisan issue any longer. This is people from both sides of the aisle saying something needs to change,” DeMora said, referring to several Ohio politicians including prominent Republicans who have donated Wexner’s campaign contributions to charities.
The Ohio Nurses Association is also calling on Ohio State to remove Wexner’s name from all campus facilities.
“When institutions respond to credible concerns by defending legacy rather than centering survivors, it mirrors the same patterns that allowed abuse to flourish in the past,” the nurses association said in their letter to the university. “This is about young girls who were preyed upon by powerful adults.”
Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, said it’s appropriate for lawmakers to call on Ohio State to reevaluate their relationship with Wexner.
“I think everyone who is in the Epstein files should be held to the standard of look at your relationship with that person, and they should be held accountable,” she said.
Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, said information about Wexner in the Epstein files should continue to be monitored.
“If it becomes something that is an even worse situation, Ohio State should have a serious conversation about that going forward,” he said.
What buildings have Wexner’s name?
The Ohio State University Medical Center was renamed the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in 2012.
The Wexner Center for the Arts is named after Les’ late father Harry Wexner.
Wexner’s name is on the Les Wexner Football Complex at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Ohio State rejected a request to consider removing Wexner’s name from the football complex in January and that request has been resubmitted, Johnson said.
“The original submission did not provide sufficient information,” Johnson said in an email. “For example, none of the documents referred to Wexner. Instead, they all related to Richard Strauss. The request was resubmitted and remains under consideration.”
That request was submitted in December by Stephen Snyder-Hill, the lead plaintiff in lawsuits against Ohio State by former student-athletes who allege they were sexually abused by former Ohio State physician Dr. Richard Strauss.
Strauss sexually abused at least 177 male victimsbetween 1979 and 1996 during his time as a physician for Ohio State’s Athletics Department and at the university’s Student Health Center, according to an independent investigation commissioned by Ohio State University.
The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital was named after Les’ wife, Abigail. Les married Abigail in 1993 and they have four children.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital did not respond to questions from the Ohio Capital Journal.
The Ohio Nurses Association is also calling on Nationwide Children’s Hospital to remove the Wexner name from the hospital’s building.
“Institutions dedicated to children should not honor or elevate names connected — directly or indirectly — to one of the most notorious international child sex trafficking operations in modern history,” the nurses association wrote in their letter.
U.S. Rep. Dave Min, D-California, said during a break in Wednesday’s deposition that when he arrived in Ohio, he saw Wexner’s name all over the place.
“His name is on buildings. It’s on medical centers, and you immediately realize when you come to Columbus what a powerful individual this is,” Min said.
What is the name changing process at Ohio State?
Ohio State came up with a procedure to formally review requests to remove names from campus buildings in 2022.
The process allows Ohio State students, faculty, staff and alumni to submit requests that undergo a five-step process and ultimately the Ohio State University Board of Trustees gets the final say.
A Standing Advisory Committee for the Review of University Space and Entity Names conducts an initial review “to determine whether the request provides substantial evidence of misconduct or other inappropriate behavior harmful to Ohio State’s reputation for excellence and its values of integrity and inclusiveness,” according to the university’s website.
The committee issues a recommendation to the Provost, who then either denies the name changing request or decides the request should move forward.
If the request continues, the committee then evaluates the request and determines whether the name should be removed.
Their recommendation goes to the university president.
The university president then can decide if the name should stay, be modified or removed.
Then the Board of Trustees has the final say to remove or modify a building’s name.
Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.