Wexner Steps Down as Ohio State Medical Center Board Chair

Wexner and his foundations have given or pledged nearly $200 million to Ohio State over several decades.

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Billionaire businessman Les Wexner has stepped down as chair of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Board of Trustees, The Lantern, Ohio State's independent student newspaper, reported Tuesday. He will remain on the board as chair emeritus.

The move follows months of scrutiny over Wexner’s ties to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Wexner’s name appeared nearly 800 times in the Justice Department’s most recent trove of Epstein documents, and two groups of survivors of Epstein’s abuse sued Wexner and the Wexner Foundation earlier this year, alleging he enabled Epstein’s crimes. Students have repeatedly called for Ohio State to remove Wexner’s name from campus buildings, including the medical center, the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Les Wexner Football Complex at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

In an emailed statement to Inside Higher Ed, Ohio State spokesperson Benjamin Johnson said that “new board chairs always refresh the committee structure and appointments.”