Ohio State Trustee Resigns, Saying Urban Meyer Punishment Was Too Soft

Although there was talk of a “range of options, from doing nothing to firing” Mr. Meyer, Mr. Wadsworth said, “that is different than deliberating it,” and the board quickly settled on a discussion of a suspension.

The tone of the meeting remained respectful, he said, but he said he felt he needed to resign because he could not defend the outcome and because there had been no public accounting of members’ views.

The university released two emails Mr. Wadsworth had sent to Dr. Drake and Michael J. Gasser, the board chairman, about an hour after the Aug. 22 news conference began, in which he tendered his resignation.

“I heard enough in the meeting,” he wrote, “to persuade me that I do not want to be a party, through endorsing today’s decision or remaining on the Board, to implicitly or explicitly support current or future actions on such issues.”

Mr. Wadsworth said he believed the punishment had come across as lenient, citing several articles published afterward, including a USA Today column with the headline “It’s Urban Meyer State University Now.”

“I read all these articles,” Mr. Wadsworth said, “and I’m embarrassed.”

Mr. Wadsworth, whose term would have expired in May, is one of the few remaining board members who were appointed by Ted Strickland, the previous Ohio governor. In June, Mr. Wadsworth was the lone member to vote against the 2019 budget.

Mr. Wadsworth retired last year as president and chief executive of Battelle Memorial Institute. Battelle, which is based in Columbus, is a nonprofit center that explores new technologies. While at Battelle, Mr. Wadsworth managed several United States Department of Energy laboratories. He was also the director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

Shared from: www.nytimes.com

The post Ohio State Trustee Resigns, Saying Urban Meyer Punishment Was Too Soft appeared first on Tech Vows.