Bard College president of over 50 years to retire over Epstein ties
JTA– Leon Botstein will end his half-century tenure as president of Bard College following an investigation commissioned by the school into his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, the school’s Board of Trustees announced late Friday.
“Nothing that President Botstein did in connection with his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was illegal, but President Botstein made decisions in the course of that relationship that reflect on his leadership of Bard,” the board wrote in the summary of the report it released Friday.
Botstein, who is Jewish and one of the longest-serving college presidents in US history, is a former director of the Jerusalem symphony who was named for an uncle who perished in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Even as others with Epstein ties were forced to resign from their roles or apologize, Botstein evaded consequences for years. But after a tranche of files was released in January, revealing new details about Botstein’s ties to Epstein, Bard commissioned the law firm WilmerHale to investigate Botstein’s conduct.
The investigation found that Botstein had “minimized and was not fully accurate” about his ties to Epstein. The investigation revealed that Botstein had made 25 different visits to Epstein’s townhouse in New York City as well as a two-day trip to his island that Botstein had previously said he could not recall.
In addition, Epstein brought women to events on Bard’s........
