Ohio State University President Ted Carter resigned after disclosing to the university’s board of trustees an inappropriate relationship.
In a news release Monday, campus officials said Carter offered to step down after recently telling the board about his association “with someone seeking public resources to support her personal business.”
Trustees were first approached by an unnamed person who “expressed concerns” related to Carter, university spokesperson Ben Johnson said at a press conference Monday. The board asked Carter about those concerns before the now-former president then disclosed the relationship and offered his resignation, Johnson said.
Carter said he “made a mistake in allowing inappropriate access to Ohio State leadership,” per the release. The brief announcement disclosed few additional details, including what that level of access amounted to or how long it continued.
Carter became Ohio State’s 17th president in January 2024. He arrived in Columbus after previous stints leading the University of Nebraska and the U.S. Naval Academy.
Ohio State officials didn’t name an interim leader, saying only the university will share more about next steps in the coming days. Johnson said the university is also launching an internal investigation into “potential concerns regarding public resources.”
As of Monday morning, Carter’s public biography on the university’s website had already been removed. He received a raise and bonus last fall, bringing his base salary up to nearly $1.2 million, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Carter’s time at Ohio State includes enrollment growth, Wexner controversy
The departure was seemingly sudden. Carter had been sharing frequent Ohio State-related updates on his social media accounts until March 6. The university’s board held a rare weekend meeting the following day to discuss “personnel matters,” according to a public notice.
In Monday’s announcement, Carter said he enjoyed a strong working relationship with the university’s board and called the university’s faculty, students, and staff “among the very best in the world.”
“I believe we have made much progress during my time at Ohio State, and I’m sorry I’m not able to remain your president longer,” he said.
Undergraduate enrollment grew under Carter’s tenure, rising to more than 52,550 students across the system’s six campuses last fall. The university also touted growth in its research work, spending a record-setting $1.68 billion in expenditures last year.
Still, his brief time in Columbus wasn’t without controversy. Community members protested his resistance to renaming many university buildings named in honor of Les Wexner, an Ohio billionaire with ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Carter also received major pushback when he preemptively closed the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion (or DEI) offices months before a new state law required public colleges to do so.
One of Carter’s biggest tentpoles was his “Education for Citizenship 2035” strategic plan. By that year, he wanted the university to offer “a pathway for every single student [and] adult learner here in the state of Ohio that wants to come to Ohio State,” he told a crowd at The City Club of Cleveland back in 2024.
This story was updated to reflect new details shared at a Monday afternoon press conference.
