Reports: Nebraska, West Virginia officials aware of OSU report into former president

Higher education officials in Nebraska and West Virginia are reportedly aware of a damning report that concluded former Ohio State University President Ted Carter misused his position to benefit a podcaster with whom he had a relationship.

Before his unexpectedly brief tenure heading Ohio’s flagship university from Jan. 1, 2024, to March 9, Carter was the eighth president of the University of Nebraska system from 2020 to 2023.

Carter resigned as president on March 8 after acknowledging a romantic relationship with Krisanthe Vlachos, a podcaster who used public resources to help her business. A 47-page report revealed that Carter “had allowed [a] relationship to improperly influence his actions and impair his judgment,” including by helping podcaster Krisanthe Vlachos secure $60,000 from JobsOhio, the state’s maligned economic development firm.

Investigators also concluded that university employees were improperly influenced by Carter, or others acting at his direction, to help Vlachos and that they were deterred from raising concerns about any interactions involving Vlachos.

“The University of Nebraska is aware of the report and is reviewing records for potentially related materials from President Carter’s tenure at Nebraska,” the university said in a statement, Nebraska Public Media reported.

According to the report, Carter and Vlachos “appear to have met at a Veterans in Energy forum in Washington, D.C. in March 2023, when Carter was President of the University of Nebraska System and a keynote speaker at the conference.”

“Vlachos described this meeting to others later as the start of their friendship, the occasion when she asked him to mentor her son who was joining the Navy, and when she asked him to cohost her podcast,” the report found.

Separately, Chris Kabourek, a former Ohio State official connected to the scandal who resigned from his position as the school’s senior vice president for administration and planning, was named West Virginia University’s vice president and chief financial officer effective June 1. In his new role, Kabourek will oversee West Virginia’s finances, information technology services, and facilities operations.

The report did not go easy on Kabourek’s role, concluding that he “went far beyond any other employee in supporting Carter’s efforts to assist Vlachos, both inside and outside the university; he failed to stop or report those efforts himself; and he failed to appropriately address concerns raised to him by other employees.”

“WVU officials are aware of the Carter report,” a West Virginia spokesperson told The Columbus Dispatch, but didn’t answer specific questions the newspaper asked about the hiring.

Before Ohio State, Kabourek was at the University of Nebraska for 27 years, serving in various roles, including as the university system’s chief financial officer and, for a brief period, interim president.