Ohio State University will not remove the name of its billionaire donor, Les Wexner, from campus buildings over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, according to a letter from a top official the university released Friday.
A university committee had received over 500 requests that the school consider removing Mr. Wexner’s name from three prominent buildings on campus: the medical center, its football complex and the center for the arts.
The university had been considering whether Mr. Wexner’s connections to Mr. Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died by suicide in 2019, might warrant the name removals.
Mr. Wexner has denied any knowledge of Mr. Epstein’s crimes and said Mr. Epstein had stolen millions from him. He has not been charged with any crimes.
Trevor Brown, the university’s interim provost for academic affairs, on Friday rejected a university committee’s recommendation for a full review to examine several allegations, including ones that claimed sexual misconduct by Mr. Wexner and abusive employment practices at Mr. Wexner’s businesses, as well as Mr. Wexner’s relationship with Mr. Epstein.
Mr. Wexner, 89, is the founder of L Brands, a retail empire that has since rebranded and once included Victoria’s Secret, and is Ohio State’s most prodigious benefactor, donating more than $200 million to the school. For years, Mr. Epstein served as his financial manager.
A spokesman for Mr. Wexner declined to comment.
Mr. Brown, in a letter to the committee, cited three reasons for putting an end to the review. Mr. Wexner has not been charged or convicted of a crime, the committee is not intended to become an investigative body, and the university could return to the matter if new information becomes available.
“In making my decision, I do not have the same constraints as the committee and may consider the broader context and availability of additional evidence,” he wrote.
The advisory committee sent a 13-page report to Mr. Brown last month. The report noted that the committee had received 512 requests, which included about 6,000 pages of supporting documentation.
If Mr. Brown had approved an investigation by the committee, the results would have been presented to the university president, whose recommendation would be forwarded to the board of trustees, which Mr. Wexner once chaired. Only the board has the authority to remove names from any buildings.
Lukas Killian, a Wexner Medical Center nurse who has been active in protests to remove his name from buildings, said he was disappointed but not surprised.
“I had no confidence before that the university would hold anyone there accountable or do the right thing,” Mr. Killian said in a phone interview. “I don’t think any nurse you’d interview at the university would be surprised by that.”
Other universities, including Harvard and Haverford College, have also been asked to consider removing names of Epstein associates from campus buildings, but most have not done so.
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