Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

University of Iowa Will Drop Steve Wynn’s Name From Major Institute He Funded

The University of Iowa says it is planning to remove Steve Wynn’s name from a major institute on its campus in the wake of sexual assault allegations made against him, the Washington Post reported. In January, the Wall Street Journal reported that Wynn had pressured employees into sex.

In 2013, the University of Iowa unveiled the newly renamed Stephen A. Wynn Institute for Vision Research. Wynn had made $25 million commitment to the school to support the institute. Wynn has hereditary blindness.

“University leadership determined retaining the name would be damaging to the institution’s reputation following recent allegations of sexual misconduct by Mr. Wynn,” the University of Iowa said in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement added that the renaming of the vision institute was “in recognition of the gift, and not a condition of the gift.” The statement also said that Wynn had so far donated $20 million to the institute.

The day after the Journal’s story broke, Wynn resigned as chairman of the Republican Finance Committee.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.