Officials at Ohio State University have denied a request to remove Les Wexner's name from the Woody Hayes' Athletic Center.
The request came from Steve Snyder-Hill, who is among a group of survivors suing Ohio State for the university's handling of the sex abuse case involving Dr. Richard Strauss.
Strauss sexually abused at least 177 students, mostly male athletes, while he was a team physician at Ohio State between 1978 and 1998.
In an email, Kevin Leonardi, associate vice president for operations at Ohio State, denied the request on the basis that there was a lack of information for the naming committee to review, highlighting that the request for removal only contained information relating to the misconduct of Strauss, and not Wexner.
"You seek the removal of Mr. Wexner’s name from a university space, but most of your request focuses on allegations concerning other individuals, and none of the documents that you provided refer to Mr. Wexner whatsoever; rather, they all relate to actions taken by Dr. Richard Strauss."
Snyder-Hill responded to the rejection in an email where he attached a Vanity Fair article detailing the relationship between Wexner and Jeffery Epstein. He also added pictures of two checks the university received in exchange for adding Wexner's name to the athletic center and the acceptance agreement between Wexner and the university. Wexner's donations amounted to $5 million.
Snyder-Hill said in a statement, "OSU’s decision to continue associating with Les Wexner is not surprising. For eight years, the university has chosen to fight the survivors of sexual assault it harmed rather than accept accountability."
After several attempts and an intervention by a federal judge, the group of survivors recently succeeded in subpoenaing Wexner regarding his knowledge of Strauss' actions, and quickly received pushback from Wexner's lawyers.
Wexner served on Ohio State's Board of Trustees between 1988-1997 and was board chair while Strauss was the team physician. Wexner was also a close associate of convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
The U.S. House Committee on Oversight Reform subpoenaed Wexner on Jan. 7 to testify about his relationship with Epstein. The Ohio billionaire will speak before Congress in a deposition on Feb. 18 in Washington D.C.
