Annandale-on-Hudson, New York — The longtime Bard College president announced his retirement Friday, months after revealing he had A much deeper relationship With Jeffrey Epstein than was previously known.
Leon Botstein, who has been president of the small liberal arts college in New York for half a century, will retire at the end of June, he wrote in an email Bard provided to The Associated Press.
In the memo, Botstein, 79, did not mention the scrutiny of his ties to Epstein, except to say he waited to publicly announce his retirement until an independent review of his relationship with the notorious sex offender was completed.
He said he will remain on the Bard faculty as a teacher and musician.
Botstein has not been accused of any involvement in Epstein’s exploitation and abuse of girls and women. But he was among a long list of prominent men and women who maintained friendly relations with him for years, despite his status as a convicted sex offender.
A group of Documents Statements released by the US Department of Justice this year showed that Botstein and Epstein met on multiple occasions, with Epstein sometimes arriving at Bard by helicopter. The president had also asked Epstein to be a guest at the 2013 graduation ceremonies and suggested they meet for an opera show.
Additionally, Botstein reached out to Epstein weeks after the Miami Herald published new details about Epstein’s criminal trial in 2018, saying, “I want you to know that I hope it holds up as well as expected,” and separately referring to his “friendship” with Epstein in at least two emails.
Epstein funneled $150,000 to Botstein in 2016, an amount the president previously said he donated to the college. Botstein previously denied having any personal connection to Epstein, instead saying his contacts with Epstein focused on fundraising for the college.
The Bard trustees enlisted outside law firm WilmerHale to conduct the process Independent review Communications between Epstein and Botstein. The review found that the president did not do anything illegal, but “made decisions in the context of that relationship that were reflected in his leadership of Bard,” according to a summary provided by the college.
“In his public statements and statements to the Bard community, Chairman Botstein downplayed the extent of his relationship with Epstein and was not entirely accurate in describing his relationship with Epstein,” the review said.
At one point, according to the review, Botstein disagreed with a senior faculty member who felt Bard should not have done business with Epstein, concluding that the president “relyed on his view that a person convicted of crimes involving sex with a minor — a ‘regular sex offender,’” he said — could be presumed to be rehabilitated in the same way that that presumption should be afforded to any other convicted person, in his view.”
“President Botstein forcefully argued that Bard’s need for money was paramount. His point was: ‘I’ll take money from the devil if he’ll let me do God’s work,'” the review said.
Bard’s Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, in a separate letter, wrote that it was grateful for Botstein’s decades of service to the college, but added that “the concerns raised in recent months were serious and profound.”
She said funds linked to Epstein would be directed to organizations that support survivors of sexual assault.
Bard’s media relations office issued a statement calling Botstein “a transformational leader with vision and unwavering commitment who has helped transform Bard into the world-class educational institution it is today.”