Bard College’s President Will Retire After Epstein Revelations

The president of Bard College, who has run the unorthodox liberal-arts school for more than a half century, announced his retirement Friday, after the release of documents that showed he had a closer relationship with Jeffrey Epstein than previously known.

The president, Leon Botstein, was known for his fundraising prowess and outsize personality, but he came under scrutiny after the release of a trove of documents collected by the Justice Department related to Epstein. The files showed Botstein had exchanged messages and visits with Epstein for years, including after Epstein’s conviction on solicitation of a minor for prostitution.

In one 2013 note, Botstein signed off with “Miss you.” He spoke of his cherished “new friendship” with the financier, and wished him well after the publication of news article that detailed his abuse.

The college commissioned an independent review, conducted by the law firm WilmerHale, and the findings were released Friday.

The review found that Botstein had done nothing illegal but that his relationship with Epstein raised concerns about his leadership. The review said that Botstein had ignored the concerns of a senior faculty member who advised him that Bard should avoid Epstein.

“President Botstein forcefully argues that Bard’s need for funds was paramount,” the review concluded. “His view was, ‘I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God’s work.’”

The review noted that Botstein had visited Epstein’s island, invited Epstein to stay at Bard and to visit a high school affiliated with Bard, and had taken payments from Epstein. Botstein said he had in turn funneled those payments to Bard under his own name.

Botstein has long maintained that his relationship with Epstein was entirely about coaxing him to give money to the school, which is about 100 miles north of New York City.

Botstein became president of Bard in 1975, when he was only 28 years old and the college was in dire financial shape. He earned a reputation as a talented fundraiser, and is credited by his supporters with keeping Bard afloat at a time when many colleges are facing difficulties and some have closed.

In 2021, billionaire George Soros pledged to donate $500 million to Bard’s endowment, which now tops $1 billion.

The new documents did not show any criminal wrongdoing on Botstein’s part, but Botstein is the latest powerful person to leave a top position after their communications with Epstein were revealed.

Botstein said in a statement Friday that he believed it was in the “best interest of Bard” to wait until the review was complete before he announced his retirement.

In the statement, he said that he would continue working as a professor and participating in music programs connected to Bard. Since 1992, Botstein has been the principal conductor and music director of the American Symphony Orchestra. In his statement, he said he would also live at Finberg House, an on-campus residence hall.

Billing itself as “a private college in the public interest,” Bard has long prided itself on bucking the conventions of higher education. The college doubled down on its bohemian sensibility under Botstein’s leadership.

The out-of-the-box thinking extended to college admissions. Bard applicants, for example, can skip the traditional process and instead submit three lengthy essays.

And Botstein has lampooned the U.S. News and World Report rankings, which many college leaders swear by.

He has also been a strong advocate for early college, creating some of the first programs that allow teenagers, often from underrepresented backgrounds, to earn college credit tuition-free while still in high school.

But when it came to another convention of modern higher education — the need to raise private money — Bard embraced the practice. Botstein said he hated raising money from the wealthy, describing it as a humiliating experience.

Still, in his statement Friday, he said that the college under his watch had secured nearly $3 billion in philanthropy. He said he would stay as president until the end of this academic year, June 30.

It was fundraising that brought Botstein into contact with Epstein. Botstein has said that the relationship with Epstein began with a small unsolicited donation by the sex offender in 2011. “A guy sent us money and we followed up,” Botstein told The New York Times in 2023. “It’s a simple story.”

But after the latest release of documents, Botstein’s explanations for various interactions with Epstein often left community members with even more questions.

For instance, after the documents showed that Botstein’s office had planned a trip to Epstein’s island in 2012, Botstein said he had become sick during the trip and wasn’t sure whether he actually stayed on the island. When the Times reported an email from Botstein from the day after that 2012 trip, in which the president thanked Epstein and wrote “the place is great,” Botstein, through a spokesperson, said he was referring to “the overall environment of St. Thomas.”

The WilmerHale report said Botstein was not “fully accurate” in describing his relationship with Epstein in public statements.

Sponsored

The documents also showed that the two had worked together to buy an expensive watch. Botstein, a watch collector, explained that he was helping Epstein, who had expressed interest in a watch, buy one.

Botstein kept the timepiece for about a year before Epstein demanded Botstein return it or begin making payments to cover the $56,000 cost.

In one email, Epstein even excoriated Botstein, describing his purchase of the watch as “careless.”

The initial response to the news was subdued on the Bard campus, and it appeared many, including board members, were willing to stand by a leader viewed by some as central to the college’s success over the decades. But the pressure mounted after a slow drip of news coverage.

This spring, the board of trustees, headed by billionaire James Cox Chambers, announced it had hired WilmerHale to investigate Epstein’s relationship with the president and Bard.

The faculty senate eventually weighed in on the matter, urging trustees to “plan for a transition in leadership.” The faculty statement also called for envisioning a Bard after the man who had led it for more than half a century.

The board on Friday thanked Botstein for “his countless accomplishments and the lasting impact of his leadership.” It said it will soon announce an interim leader and the details of a national search for the next president.