Ohio State President Ted Carter speaks with The Lantern at Univeristy Square South Tuesday. Credit: Sandra Fu | Managing Photo Editor
Ohio State President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. hinted at, but said there are no finalized plans for major dorm renovations, supported student’s right to free speech amid Tuesday’s protest at the Ohio Union and does not anticipate Les Wexner’s name will disappear from campus buildings.
In a 30-minute interview with the Lantern Tuesday, Carter also talked about his confidence in Ohio State’s football team despite over 30 players entering the transfer portal, the hard work of faculty and staff to comply with Senate Bill 1 and explained why there was a decline in international students.
Here is what Carter had to say.
On-Campus Dorms
On Jan. 10, a major pipe failure in Taylor Tower, a 60-year-old dorm, displaced over 750 students who had to find alternative housing two days before the spring semester began, per prior Lantern reporting.
Last year, students in Lawrence Tower had to move out prior to the 2025 spring semester after major mold growth was found in the rooms.
“[I’m] never going to try to make excuses for when bad things happen and the timing of the thing that happened in [Taylor], you know. [It] was not good,” Carter said.
When asked if Taylor Tower will reopen, Carter said maintenance work was set to begin in June 2026 but with these new circumstances, the date was moved up and will “eventually get that back to where it’s in good living conditions.”
Regarding any renovations or changes for other dorms, especially the older, non-air conditioned South Campus residence halls and Morrill and Lincoln towers, Carter said they are developing plans but have not yet been finalized.
“Lets face it, those towers have been there a long, long time,” Carter said. “Not making any hard announcements today, but we’ve got to come to some decisions here in the next few months.”
Carter said they will continue to look at the aging living spaces on campus and develop a new strategy because overall, the students’ safety and experience on campus is his priority.
“When something bad happens, you know what, we’re going to own it, and we’ll do everything we can to fix it and make it right by our students,” Carter said.
Career Fair Protest
As The Lantern was meeting with Carter, a protest was taking place at the Ohio Union for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s involvement at the College of Arts and Sciences Career Fair, per prior Lantern reporting.
The fair had over 150 private and public companies, and the border patrol has had a table for the last four years, Carter said.
About 60 protesters chanted in the lobby and through the second floor ballroom where the fair took place. Eventually, three people, two of them students, were arrested for refusing to comply with space standards set by the university.
“I’m aware that there was, you know, a lot of emotions around this, and certainly around [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], and there’s people concerned about ICE on our campus,” Carter said. “We have not had an issue with ICE on our campus to date, and I want people to know that they can go out there and raise their voice and let them have their voices be heard.”
Carter said people also must consider the students who came looking for a job at the fair.
“We also got to be respectful of the many students who want to come in and have a chance to meet employers and have a chance to maybe get an interview for a job,” Carter said. “That’s what that career fair is all about.”
ICE Concerns
Concerns over ICE grew following more sightings of arrests in Columbus and the Jan. 7 shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
Carter said that although ICE is allowed to go on campus because Ohio State is a public university, the agency is not allowed to go into buildings and dorms. If any students, faculty or staff sees something, Carter said he encourages them to call university police.
“Our security team is there to protect our students,” Carter said. “So I would not hesitate to say, ‘Hey, call somebody in OSU police department and ask them the questions.’”
Carter said the Office of Student Life has resources for affected students and the Office of Legal Affairs can provide legal advice. In addition, Carter said the legal affairs office has an ICE interaction guide to provide clarity on what is allowed.
Ohio State’s Reputation amid Sexual Assault Concerns
Ohio State has been the center of legal cases, such as the class action lawsuit brought on by survivors of Dr. Richard Strauss for the university’s handling of Strauss’ sexual abuse. The U.S. House Committee on Oversight Reform also served a subpoena to Les Wexner, the founder of L Brands and chairman of the Wexner Medical Center, for his ties with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
When asked about how these cases may affect Ohio State’s reputation, Carter said he is not concerned since there are many positive things happening at the university.
Carter said Ohio State is a top 15 research university, the Wexner Medical Center is opening a new hospital tower next month and the university created Buckeye Bridge, a program that provides free tuition at Ohio State for students who earned their associates degree at Columbus State College.
With growing questions of Wexner’s ties with Epstein and his knowledge of Strauss’ actions while Wexner was a Board of Trustee member, some groups and advocates have called for Wexner’s name to be removed from campus buildings.
Carter currently has no plans to change the name, but said there is a process for name removal.
“I don’t want to speculate because we don’t know what’s coming or is going to happen, right?” Carter said. “There is a process for any kind of name changes. So we’ll follow all the processes that we have, but I don’t anticipate anything there.”
Ohio State Football Transfers
Despite over 30 players from the Ohio State Football team entering the transfer portal this past cycle, per prior Lantern reporting, and how that will affect Ohio State’s team, Carter said he still thinks the Buckeyes will continue to be successful next season.
Carter said the loss of departing players is offset by the immense experience of new athletes transferring to Ohio State.
“There’s still a lot more work to be done,” Carter said. “But I will tell you what, we will continue to be competitive next year.”
Carter said the college athletic landscape, specifically football, is completely different now and he thinks Ohio State, specifically head coach Ryan Day, has done a great job of navigating it.
“I mean, let’s not kid ourselves, the transfer portal, NIL, all of those things, even though those are acronyms and words that we’ve used now for a couple years, we’re in a different space,” Carter said.
Carter said with college football gaining more parity, the common thread between the highly ranked teams is the amount of experience the players have on them, just one year out of the portal.
Carter said it is up to the players to decide what is best for them and their talent, whether it includes financial or playing time motives, and whether those factors mean entering the transfer portal.
“If you’re not feeling like you’re a starter next year, the transfer portal, for a lot of our players, looks very attractive,” Carter said. “Here’s what I do know: now, the portal window is closed and the music is about to stop, and everybody’s going to be looking for a chair to sit in.”
Carter said some players who enter the portal and don’t find a new home might find themselves hoping to come back, only to find the spot they once held has been taken by someone else.
International Students
The first-year enrollment of international students declined by almost 40 percent for the 2025-26 school year, per prior Lantern reporting.
Chris Booker, a university spokesperson, said in the article from September the difference was because of the unusually high enrollment the year before, and Carter, agreed.
“A little over a year ago, when we brought in that very large freshman class, we were a little over 6,600 international students, and that was partially because of that large class,” Carter said. “A lot of them are still here.”
Carter said this year, there has been less than a five percent reduction in the overall international student body with just under 6,000 students.
On a larger scale, Carter said international students are applying less because of the national higher education landscape, not Ohio State specifically.
“[International students are] mostly not coming here because they’re hearing about the landscape,” Carter said. “They’re not being refused visas, they’re just choosing not to come.”
Last spring, at least 11 international students’ visas were revoked and the federal government began pausing visa applications for increased social media vetting, per prior Lantern reporting.
Senate Bill 1 and Accessibility Requirement Progress
It has been a year since Senate Bill 1 has passed, a bill that bans diversity, equity and inclusion programming, faculty striking, limits the teaching of controversial subjects and requires course syllabi to be public online, per prior Lantern reporting. Carter said he has given the entire faculty staff, University Senate, legal team, and government affairs team large credit for the work they have done for the university.
“Our faculty have done a remarkable amount of work, and just getting through everything, from evaluations to all the different pieces that are in that and required,” Carter said. “We’re continuing to evaluate. We’ve got resources for people to ask questions, should they have any questions.”
In addition, with new accessibility requirements needed on Carmen and within specific courses before April of 2026, Carter said the university is “working really hard” to meet compliances on the front-facing online piece before the deadline.
