Ohio State University President Ted Carter resigns over "inappropriate relationship"

Ohio State University President Ted Carter Resigns Over 'Inappropriate Relationship' Ohio State University is investigating the abrupt resignation of President Walter "Ted" Carter Jr. over the weekend following the revelation of "an inappropriate relationship" with a woman who sought public resources for her personal business, the university said Monday. Carter, 66, said in a statement that he had voluntarily resigned after informing the university's board of trustees of his mistake. He did not elaborate on the nature of the relationship and whether it was romantic; His statement indicated that he and his wife, Lynda, are still a couple. "For personal reasons, I have made the difficult decision to resign from my position as president of The Ohio State University," he said. "I revealed to the board that I made a mistake by allowing inappropriate access to Ohio State leadership." Board Chairman John Zeiger accepted Carter's resignation in a letter dated Sunday, a day after trustees held a private executive session. Spokesman Ben Johnson said Carter was not present at the session, but that trustees were aware of the situation before meeting. “The Board was surprised and disappointed to learn of this matter and takes the situation and its potential impact on the university very seriously,” Zeiger wrote. "We respect their decision and appreciate their cooperation in supporting an orderly leadership transition." The board was satisfied with Carter's work overall. Trustees gave him a merit raise of more than $50,000 in August on top of his $1.1 million annual salary, as well as a bonus of nearly $400,000. His contract was supposed to run through 2028. Ohio State presidents also receive residency in a roughly $3.6 million mansion in a posh Columbus suburb. Johnson said the university has opened an investigation into Carter's misconduct, while also working to implement a leadership transition plan. The latter could be detailed as soon as this week, he said. In the absence of its president, the university's day-to-day operations will fall to members of Carter's former cabinet, Johnson said, which includes a chief of staff, two executive vice presidents and seven senior vice presidents. In the event of an emergency, the school's public safety professionals would take direct action, as is always the case. Ohio State is the sixth largest university in the country, with more than 60,000 students, more than 600,000 living alumni, and a top-ranked football team and medical center. Carter oversaw a fiscal year 2026 budget totaling $11.5 billion in revenue and $10.9 billion in spending, although it was not clear that the "resources" the woman took advantage of were monetary. The university added Carter in 2023 from the University of Nebraska system. He is also a former superintendent of the United States Naval Academy and a retired vice admiral who attended the Navy's Fighter Weapons School, known as Top Gun. He holds the national record for arrested landings on aircraft carriers with more than 2,000 safe landings. He filled a vacancy at Ohio State left by President Kristina Johnson's mid-contract resignation, which was largely unexplained. The engineer and former undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Energy had been chancellor of New York's public university system before joining the Buckeyes as president in 2020, succeeding President Michael Drake. Jennifer Tisone Price, executive director of the Ohio conference of the American Association of University Professors, said Ohio State students, faculty and staff deserve better. "This is OSU's third president since 2020," he said in a statement. "If the university wants to perform better next time, it must have a transparent hiring process that respects shared governance that includes t