{"id":291869,"date":"2026-02-19T15:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/291869\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T15:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:21:11","slug":"ohio-state-students-health-care-workers-demand-removal-of-les-wexners-name-from-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/291869\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio State students, health care workers demand removal of Les Wexner&#8217;s name from campus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) \u2014 There are calls to remove Les Wexner&#8217;s name from Ohio State University campus facilities, including the medical center.<\/p>\n<p>Wexner&#8217;s name is throughout campus on The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, the Wexner Center for the Arts, buses, street signs, and more.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not very surprised about it, but it does make me really uncomfortable,&#8221; said Shaela Davis, an OSU graduate student. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Definitely sad and also disappointed,&#8221; said an OSU student. <\/p>\n<p>Several students told ABC 6\/FOX 28 that they want Wexner&#8217;s name removed from campus due to allegations about his involvement with convicted sex offender and his former finance manager, Jeffrey Epstein.  Wexner continues to <a href=\"https:\/\/abc6onyourside.com\/news\/local\/full-text-les-wexner-issues-3-page-statement-before-deposition-leslie-l-brands-limited-jeffrey-epstein-files-columbus-billionaire-ohio-new-albany-bexley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">deny any wrongdoing<\/a> or knowledge of Epstein&#8217;s criminal activity when the two had contact. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think that would be the best option at this point,&#8221; said an OSU student. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To think of like so many women and children that were victims in that situation, and then to have someone, a big name as Wexner, to have them tied to that, that makes me really uncomfortable,&#8221; Davis said. <\/p>\n<p>The concerns do not stop with students. Nurses and healthcare workers are also calling on university leaders to remove Wexner&#8217;s name from campus facilities. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re using our platform to fight for what&#8217;s right and to fight for accountability,&#8221; said Rick Lucas, a nurse at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and President of the Ohio Nurses Association. <\/p>\n<p>Lucas sent a letter to OSU President Ted Carter and the Board of Trustees on February 17 on behalf of several healthcare unions. It demands that they remove Wexner&#8217;s name from all campus facilities. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have moral, ethical, and legal obligations as mandated reporters,&#8221; said Lucas. &#8220;Those are driving us to take this, this hard line stance that the hospital needs to drop the Wexner name.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wexner and Limited Brands Foundation donated, raised, or pledged nearly $200 million dollars total to Ohio State, before February 17, 2011, according to the university. A $100 million commitment in February of 2011 mainly went toward The Ohio State University Medical Center and The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.<\/p>\n<p>A university spokesperson said there is a <a href=\"https:\/\/oaa.osu.edu\/resources\/committees-and-task-forces\/university-naming-review-procedure\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">naming review procedure. <\/a>The spokesperson added that there are pending requests related to Wexner&#8217;s name, and each request receives full consideration.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Protecting vulnerable people is not optional, even when it&#8217;s uncomfortable, even when the people that you&#8217;re trying to hold accountable are rich and powerful,&#8221; Lucas said. <\/p>\n<p>If the university does not remove Wexner&#8217;s name by February 22, the union will be holding an informational picket, according to Lucas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I hope that the name will get removed, because that to me shows that the campus is in solidarity and is protecting those women and the children that went through that,&#8221; Davis said. <\/p>\n<p>ABC 6\/FOX 28 reached out to Wexner&#8217;s attorneys and asked for a response to the demands from nurses and students. This story will be updated when a response is received. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) \u2014 There are calls to remove Les Wexner&#8217;s name from Ohio State University campus facilities,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-291869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}