Time to pay Ohio State trustees
In The Dispatch’s April 26 “The Conversation” section, your editorial board criticized the apparent haste with which former Ohio State University President Ted Carter was discharged and replaced, and his two years of active mismanagement exposed only a short time after receipt of an anonymous tip.
In my opinion, your board was correct that, at the very least, Carter’s mismanagement warranted his discharge, while the speed with which this occurred suggests something else more dishonest, possibly an effort to avoid embarrassing the trustees for their absentee, part-time mismanagement of one of the most important institutions of our state.
A couple of questions are suggested: Is the new president well-qualified for the job, or was his title simply the most convenient? Is this, as the old expression goes, the best way to run a railroad?
In the absence of any useful suggestions by your editorial board, I would like to suggest that the enormity of this institution defies an effort to effectively manage it by one president and several part-time board members, often seen enjoying their free tickets to football games.
This debacle calls for a comprehensive management study conducted by the governor, who should not be satisfied by the traditional system of rewarding political supporters with high-placed do-nothing positions of great influence with negligible responsibility.
I am suggesting the state consider a plan for a compensated, full-time board with executive leadership that seems to work well in the private sector, of which I can speak from several years of personal experience.
Richard D. Rogovin, Blacklick
Nothing changed
Recent coverage of the Kent State student killings reminds me of how much nothing changes.
I was living in Cleveland when Gov. Rhodes ordered the National Guard to Kent State where they opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War. I recall the outrage and demonstrations on that day over the murders of four young people by the government.
Fast-forward to April 25, 2024 and recall OSU’s failed president Ted Carter ordering Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers to the roof of the Ohio Union with long-range firearms aimed at peaceful demonstrators, some of whom were on their knees praying, demonstrating against Israel’s war on Palestinians, which our country finances and supports.
And now 56 years later, with multiple unjust wars since then, we are again embroiled in a war for no reason other than economic opportunities of war and the whims of an incompetent president. The consequences of this new war are staggering with unnecessary deaths of innocent people and the destruction of homes and historic cities.
And finally, let us not forget the thousands of veterans of these endless wars, who are homeless or the 1.2 million living below the poverty level. Nothing changes.
Diane Donato, Columbus
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State trustees should be paid — Ted Carter’s relationship fiasco proof | Letters
Reporting by Letters to the Editor, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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