Evelyn Borman grew up two minutes from Ohio State’s campus. She idealized the university. She dreamed of being a Buckeye.
Now, she feels ashamed.
“Do we let this university become the great institution it was before Les Wexner?” said Borman, a first-year in chemical engineering. “Or do we let his blood money taint its future for the rest of its time? We are the many and they are a cancer.”
Approximately 100 people gathered outside of the Thompson Library on Friday around 1:30 p.m. before migrating to the front of The Wexner Center of the Arts in protest of the university keeping Les Wexner’s name on campus, chanting obscenities as they marched.
“F*** Les Wexner,” the protesters shouted repeatedly.
Wexner is the founder of L Brands and chairman of the Wexner Medical Center. He has been under public and judicial scrutiny for his longstanding ties with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. As of Feb. 18, Ohio State has received nearly 300 requests to remove Wexner’s name from buildings across campus, per prior Lantern reporting.
The protest was held to “demand that [Ohio State’s] administration remove[s] the name of Jeffery Epstein’s associate and friend Les Wexner from all campus and medical center buildings,” the organizers, Columbus Revolutionary Student Union, or RSU, said in a statement.?
“Those in power care more about Wexner’s donations than they care about justice for victims of the convicted sex trafficker Wexner willfully associated with,” the statement said. “We are not asking for the impossible.”
In response to the protest, Ohio State university officials said they support free speech on campus.?
“Ohio State supports the right of the campus community to speak out about issues that are important to them and advocate for causes in a way that is lawful,” Chris Booker, university spokesperson, said in an email.?
Two representatives from the Undergraduate Student Government also spoke to show their support.
Chris Cade and Braxton Glover said USG fully stands with students in support to take Wexner’s name off campus. Cade is a second-year in public policy and political science and Glover is a first-year in political science and public management, leadership and policy. They are both senators in USG.
On Wednesday, the USG General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the university to remove Wexner’s name off campus. They then went before President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. at the monthly Senate Faculty Meeting Thursday calling for the same actions, per prior Lantern reporting.
“We have to continue coming together,” Cade said during the protest. “We cannot allow them to stifle our voices, because that is what they want to do. They want us to go to class and not skip standing here. They want us to stay silent, but we will not be.”
Kirk Dixon, former Ohio State baseball player and a survivor of Dr. Richard Strauss was also present at the protest. For the first time, he spoke out about the abuse he endured and called out the Board of Trustees to make changes.
“When [the Board of Trustee members] sign up for that job, it is to adhere to the values of excellence, integrity, initiative. All the things that we know that we stand for and we want,” Dixon said. “All we’re asking here at this gathering, do your job.”?
From 1978-98, Strauss abused at least 177 students, mostly male athletes, during his tenure as a physician at Ohio State. He died by suicide in 2005, and Ohio State faces a class-action lawsuit filed by survivors for how it handled Strauss’ abuse.?
Recently, a judge ordered Wexner to take part in a deposition regarding his time as a Board of Trustees member, which overlapped when Strauss was employed at Ohio State.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are seeking accountability and compensation for the damages they allege Ohio State has caused them.
The Lantern cannot confirm if Dixon is part of this lawsuit.
Elijah Kirkpatrick, a second-year in philosophy, politics and economics, said that he wasn’t planning on joining the protest, but he was inspired to join the protest, being a firm believer in collective action.
“We’re sick of waiting and we’re sick of being told to go through the proper channels, because the proper channels aren’t conducive to making actual change” Kirkpatrick said. “It’s not working.”
Borman said that she wants to feel proud of her university again and that she does not want to feel ashamed anymore.
“I want to stop having to tell my friends ‘Maybe don’t come here for now, maybe give it a couple years until we get the whole thing sorted out,’” Borman said. “I just, I want my university back, the one I dreamed of when I was a kid.”
People began to dissipate around 2:45 p.m.
The article was updated on Feb. 28 at 11:38 a.m. to add the LanternTV video.
