A presidential bombshell dropped this week. No, this is not about President Trump calling the Iran war a "short-term excursion." This is not even about the president of the United States.
The focus is on the president of Ohio State University, who resigned this week, or was forced to quit.
Ted Carter’s resignation came after he acknowledged an inappropriate relationship with a woman seeking public resources to support her personal business.
While all details are not yet known, the university says the matter is under investigation. It is looking into Carter’s relationship with a podcaster who produced shows on post-military jobs. Carter is a retired Navy vice admiral.
The podcaster produced some of her shows here at WOSU under a private client contract.
It has been a strange few days at Ohio State and WOSU as the situation unfolds.
The resignation ends Carter's short two-year stint as OSU president. It was an eventful tenure. He took office as Palestinian protests were occurring at OSU and campuses around the country. Trump was threatening schools that did not crack down on protesters or eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Tens of millions of dollars in federal research money was on the line.
At the state level, the Ohio legislature passed a new law banning DEI programs. Carter eliminated the OSU diversity office even before the bill became law. He also banned chalking on campus sidewalks, presumably for fear of controversial slogans. He did, however, get to enjoy last year’s football national championship.
While its end was unusual, Carter’s tenure may not be all that uncommon. The job has always been difficult, but it seems to be increasingly challenging in recent years.
To examine the practices and politics of being a college president, we turn to Josh Moody. He is a reporter for Inside Higher Ed who covers money and management in higher education.
State of the State
Gov. Mike DeWine gave his final State of the State address this week. Next year, he will be retired, and we assume Democrat Amy Acton or Republican Vivek Ramaswamy will address the legislature.
It should come as no surprise, but DeWine played it safe in this final address. He spent about a quarter of his hour-long speech talking about the science of reading, which is basically phonics, and how a new state law mandating it is paying off with better reading scores.
He called for tougher seat belt laws, especially for children. He also asked lawmakers to ban AI child pornography, which is going to be a tough sell. He also wants to double the amount of recess time in school from 30 minutes to 60 minutes.
Perhaps he is trying to soften the blow for those students who can no longer use their phones in school because of a law he signed.
It is safe to say DeWine wants his legacy to be that he tried to take care of children and help them live to their "God-given potential," as he often says.
However, there was nothing on the cost of living, nothing on skyrocketing property taxes, and nothing about the cost of daycare to help families with young children. There was also nothing on the death penalty, which he has discussed recently.
He did mention his clean water initiative, but he did not ask the legislature to pay for it.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, DeWine has done his best to avoid controversy. In his last State of the State address, he did exactly that.
Snollygoster of the week
U.S. Sen. Jon Husted was scheduled to testify this week in the FirstEnergy executive nuclear bailout bribery trial. When he was lieutenant governor, Husted supported the bailout. Attorneys said he could not testify in person because of the ongoing war in Iran.
While attorneys claimed Husted had to testify by video because of the war, Channel 5 in Cleveland reports that he traveled back to Ohio this past weekend for a fundraiser.
For his part-time, sometimes remote monitoring of the war, Sen. Jon Husted gets our Snollygoster of the Week award.