Protesters gathered in front of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center to protest Les Wexner’s name on the building on Dec. 17. Credit: Trevor Voigt | Lantern Reporter
Former student athletes and survivors of sexual abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss gathered in front of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center today to call for the removal of Les Wexner’s name from the football program’s practice facility.
Les Wexner is the founder of L Brands and one of Ohio State’s top donors, per prior Lantern reporting.
The gathering of roughly 20 stood outside near the Woody Hayes statue beginning at approximately 1:15 p.m. Survivors spoke and gave statements to members of the press.?
Protesters stood holding signs that read “Woody or Wexner,” as well as printed photos of Wexner and Jeffrey Epstein together and two large checks that had been written to Ohio State in 2007, one from Wexner’s charitable organization, and another from the Epstein-operated C.O.U.Q foundation, each for $2.5 million.?
Ohio State announced following a 2020 review of Epstein donations that the C.O.U.Q donation “originated from the Wexner Children’s Trust and the Leslie H. Wexner Charitable Fund and not from Jeffrey Epstein.”
The groups’ requests for the removal of Wexner’s name were based on three points: his relationship with Epstein, Wexner’s financier from the mid 1980s to 2007 and a convicted sex-trafficker, his employment of Michael Jefferies, a former Abercrombie and Fitch CEO, who was convicted of 16 counts of sex-trafficking in 2024 and his role on the board of trustees from 1988-97.?
Strauss was a former university athletic health doctor from 1978-1998, who sexually abused at least 177 male student athletes, according to prior Lantern reporting. Strauss died by suicide in 2005.?
“Mr. Wexner is connected to a trifecta of sexual abuse scandals, each involving the abuse of children or minors,” said Michael DiSabato, a 1994 Ohio State graduate and Strauss survivor. “These associations raise profound moral, ethical and institutional concerns that are incompatible with the values Ohio State attempts to uphold.”
Al Washington Sr., a former Ohio State football player from 1978-81, was also in attendance.
“It is deeply troubling to me and the silent majority of athletes who competed for the university, that the football practice facility inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center continues to bear the name of Leslie Wexner,” Washington Sr. said.?
Survivors had previously protested at a university board of trustees meeting on Dec. 4, holding signs that read “Where’s Wexner?” referring to the ongoing Strauss lawsuit, in which Wexner’s attorney, Matthew Zeiger, son of the board of trustees chairman and Wexner’s former attorney, John Zeiger, denied a subpoena via email, according to prior Lantern reporting.
Wexner served as chairman of the board of trustees from 1988-1997 and again from 2005-2012. He is the chairman of the Wexner Medical Center Board.?
Ohio State Spokesperson Ben Johnson said in a statement that the university has settled with 296 survivors and that since 2018, Ohio State has “sincerely and persistently tried to reconcile with survivors through monetary and non-monetary means.”
“The remaining plaintiffs elected to continue litigation, and it is important that we allow the legal process to proceed,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that Ohio State has an established process for considering renaming requests, which involves a five-step procedure after a request is filed. This process involves a standing advisory committee, the university provost, president and board of trustees.?
When asked about the formal process of filing a request for Wexner’s name to be removed from the football practice facility, DiSabato said that he was aware of the process, but that it had not been “delved into extensively.”
“A formal request [will] be coming soon.” DiSabato said.?
DiSabato said that the group will continue to have these conversations, and that this is “just the start” of ensuring that the university and broader community “acknowledge our past and move together in a way that respects and protects our children.”
