Optics and institutional risk

Ted Carter’s resignation this month as president of Ohio State University carries the hallmarks of a tabloid scandal. Announcing his departure, the university cited Carter’s "inappropriate" relationship with a woman who was “seeking public resources to support her personal business.” Reporting from The Columbus Dispatch suggests Carter had a romantic relationship with a female podcaster, and that Carter had used his university position to connect the woman with influential state leaders. Carter is just the latest high-profile academic to imperil an institution through reckless personal conduct. Given what social scientists know about how people in power behave, he’s unlikely to be the last.

Related Reading

‘Inappropriate Relationship’ Leads Ohio State’s president to resign (The Chronicle) 

Carter's relationship included dinner with OSU leaders, business lobbying (The Columbus Dispatch) 

Flirty emails got Mark Schlissel fired. A deeper history weighs on Michigan’s Flagship. (The Chronicle)

Guests

Sarah Brown, senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education

Nell Gluckman, senior reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education

Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at the U. of California at Berkeley

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.