The president of Ohio State University has resigned after he disclosed to trustees that he had an “inappropriate relationship with someone seeking public resources,” the school said in a statement on Monday.
The president, Walter Carter Jr., who has led the school for two years, said in a statement that he had “made a mistake in allowing inappropriate access to Ohio State leadership to support her personal business.”
The university did not provide more detail about the nature of the relationship or the identity of the person mentioned in the statement.The board chair, John W. Zeiger, could not immediately be reached.
“The Board was surprised and disappointed to learn of this matter and takes the situation and its potential impact on the university very seriously,” Mr. Zeiger wrote to Mr. Carter on Sunday, accepting his resignation. “We respect your decision and appreciate your cooperation in supporting an orderly leadership transition.”
The resignation comes as the university of about 67,000 students in Columbus, Ohio, faced negative publicity on other fronts.
Students and faculty have pressured the university to end its connection with donor Les Wexner because of the retail billionaire’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Hundreds of students recently took part in a walkout demanding that the university remove Mr. Wexner’s name from campus buildings, including the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, the Les Wexner Football Complex and the Wexner Center for the Arts.
Last month, the university placed an assistant professor on leave after he was seen in a viral video knocking a journalist to the ground after the documentarian had attempted to ask a former Ohio State president questions.
Vimal Patel writes about higher education for The Times with a focus on speech and campus culture.
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