An Ohio State University committee is not recommending the name of the university library bearing the name of former OSU President William Oxley Thompson be changed.
In a report written in late July, OSU's Standing Advisory Committee for the Review of University Space and Entity Names, wrote a letter to President Ravi Bellamkonda explaining the decision. Four alumni requested the library be renamed because Thompson took a “leadership role, as a member of the Columbus City Schools Board of Education, in establishing de facto racially segregated schools in Columbus, starting in 1909 and lasting until 1977, and … [maintained] racially segregated student housing at The Ohio State University during his tenure as president.”
The committee wrote in its decision that it determined Thompson's decisions on CCS' board caused segregation, tracing this to the opening of the Champion Avenue School. This was in spite of Ohio law prohibiting segregation. However the board stated that evidence doesn't prove Thompson led these efforts.
"Such segregation was clearly improper and immoral. However, the fuller historical record does not sufficiently substantiate the requestors’ views that Dr. Thompson specifically led efforts to establish racially segregated CCS schools, and the Committee could not find any evidence that Dr. Thompson promoted racially segregated student housing at the university," the report said.
The report said Bellamkonda reviewed the committee’s report and accepted the recommendation to retain the library’s current name. Ohio State spokesperson Ben Johnson deferred to this statement.
The report said records obtained through CCS revealed that Thompson "was engaged thoughtfully on issues of race and civil rights in the face of an evolving state and national dialogue."
The full report can be read on the university's website.
Along with the main library being named for Thompson, a statue of Thompson also stands on the library's east side on the Oval.
Ohio State will now consider dozens of requests to rename buildings named for Ohio billionaire and university megadonor Leslie Wexner. He came under scrutiny for his relationship with his friend and financial advisor Jeffrey Epstein, who was a convicted sex offender and accused of running a sex trafficking ring.
The OSU Wexner Medical Center and the Les Wexner Sports Complex at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center are named for Wexner. The Wexner Center for the Arts is named for Wexner's father.
Johnson confirmed all currently pending requests before the committee are related to Wexner.
