Ted Carter University President is pushing forward with a series of changes in the Ohio and the Trump administration, and the accompanying backlash from students and faculty.
Ohio State Speaker Ted Carter shares AI’s university vision
Ohio State Speaker Ted Carter shares AI’s university vision and how it will work in the future.
- Ohio State President Ted Carter said he is not targeting federal probes to anti-Semitism and minority doctoral programs.
- Carter said he defended an approach to new state law that restricts diversity programs and worked with lawmakers to maintain university autonomy.
- The university faces criticism for closing diversity-related centres and restricting chokes on campus sidewalks.
- A new state-mandated Civic Center has opened on campus. This is described by Carter as a space for discussion rather than as a right-wing entity.
WASHINGTON – Ohio State President Ted Carter doesn’t feel he’s been targeted by the federal government despite schools and other universities across the country facing scrutiny from the Trump administration.
The Land Cultivation College is one of dozens facing federal investigations related to anti-Semitism on campus. Carter said he believes the school is included in the investigation due to previous investigations launched under the Biden administration.
“I always talk to the staff and all the people. If we do the right thing, we will stick to our mission and everything will be fine,” Carter told USA Today. “So if someone wants to see us closely, if they ask why we are doing something specific, we welcome it.”
The university is also facing another investigation related to Project PhD, a program aimed at helping some minority students complete their business doctorate. Ohio spokesman Ben Johnson said the university had sent the response to investigators and had not responded. He added that doctoral programs are open to everyone and that the university “does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, or other protected classes.”
Carter visited the USA Today newsroom during Washington, DC, where he met with Ohio State University alumni working on Capitol Hill with Ohio State delegations. He is working with the US president to remake higher education on the challenges of academic independence as a Republican at the state and federal levels.
And while he doesn’t seem to be bothered by the attention of the federal government, he has questioned his approach on diversity issues and faces pushbacks from several faculty and staff who say he’s overreacting.
Carter’s approach to these controversial issues appears to embrace laws that he cannot change while trying to go ahead with them on university terms.
He was president when Ohio lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1. This is the Higher Education Act in February, which restricts universities from offering diversity, equity and comprehensive programs. It also prohibits any notable faculty and prevents them from taking controversial beliefs or policies stances defined by law as “climate policy, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity, equity, inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage, or abortion.”
Some public universities protested a similar bill in 2023, while Ohio did not publicly oppose Senate Bill 1. Carter said it is clear based on the composition of the state legislature in which the bill will be passed. He said his objection meant losing “the opportunity to discuss some of the changes we thought we could best do.”
He said lawmakers were able to access prior to the passage of the bill, and encouraged universities to maintain autonomy over how they comply with the law. He added that the university attempted to maintain the ability of student councillors to vote on board.
Navigate freedom of speech concerns
Carter also faces criticism from faculty and students when the university closed two centres related to diversity efforts ahead of SB1. The university is also cracking down on chokes on campus sidewalks, with critics saying it is hindering students’ rights to free speech. We also restricted ways that resident advisors decorate common areas of dorms with school-friendly themes.
Regarding the center, Ohio states say the closure is linked to Trump’s anti-DEI directive. Carter said many people are focusing on closure of the center, but it’s not what they’re in now. He mentioned Buckeye Commons, which replaces the Social Attribution Center. Provides career, financial and mental health resources to students. He added that no students have lost their scholarships due to the closure of the centre.
“Is it perfect? No,” Carter said. “But we’re still working on putting together some of this and we’ve done some hiring to build those spaces.”
As for chalk, Carter said the decision that it was an administrative issue rather than an attempt to cut speeches. The issue first occurred in October 2024 during a student protest related to the Israeli-Hamas War.
“It’s like we’re sitting on the sidewalk for hours and we’re in favor of it,” he said. “It became a serious administrative burden and it didn’t reflect what I believed was the right thing to do for the university.”
Carter added that other universities, such as Harvard University and the University of Maryland, had similar rules.
He also described the dorm decision as a bit off the “growth of SB 1”. He said the goal is to make sure that “the space in our public faces is not a personal place for people because of the place they want to express themselves.” Johnson sent a follow-up message adding the changes. It also stems from university reviews related to changes in state and federal regulations.
These free speech challenges come at a time when concerns about students’ first right to revise are growing.
A new report released on September 9 by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression found that over half of the 257 universities surveyed failed to create a free speech-friendly environment. The report also found that the majority of students were opposed to allowing an array of hypothetical and controversial figures from the left and right.
Ohio State ranked 124th overall in the rankings. Reports of 329 Ohio State students who responded reported that 43% reported self-censorship on campus.
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New Civic Center discussed
At the same time, the university recently opened a civic centre required by state law of 2023. It is named after former Ohio governor, senator and Supreme Court Justice Salmon P. Chase. Its mentioned mission is to “educate and research in the historical ideas, traditions and texts that shaped the American constitutional order and society.”
These types of centres appearing around campus nationwide are popular among conservative politicians and are often cited as a response to what they describe as decades of liberal indoctrination on university campuses. Critics say these centers are overly right-wing and lack academic rigor. In Ohio, faculty voted against the center, but their approval was not required to open it.
Carter opposed the assessment that the Civic Center is the right-wing version of the campus DEI Center. Instead, he said he imagined the center as a space for “hard discussions.”
“It’s not a forced tilt into the conversation,” he said.
