Bard College said Thursday that it had opened an “independent review” of its president’s connections to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after emails recently revealed by the Department of Justice showed the two had a closer relationship than previously known.
The board of trustees at Bard said in a statement on Thursday that it had retained an outside law firm, WilmerHale, to look into the ties between its president, Leon Botstein, and Mr. Epstein.
Dr. Botstein, who has led the liberal-arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., since 1975, has said for years that his sole interest in Mr. Epstein was to coax a major donation out of him for the financially precarious college. But a trove of Justice Department emails released late last month showed that Dr. Botstein had a warmer relationship with Mr. Epstein than previously known.
In one message, Dr. Botstein wrote that he cherished his “new friendship” with Mr. Epstein, and he signed off another in 2013 with, “Miss you.” Dr. Botstein visited Mr. Epstein’s Manhattan town home numerous times, and Mr. Epstein would fly his helicopter along the Hudson River and land on Bard’s campus, with women in tow at least once. The two worked together to buy a rare and expensive watch.
Dr. Botstein did not immediately respond to a message on Thursday night. Last week, he sent a note to the campus apologizing for his relationship with Mr. Epstein, whom he described as a “truly evil man.”
The statement on Thursday appears to be the first time that Bard’s trustees, headed by the billionaire James Cox Chambers, addressed the relationship. Numerous requests for comments on the matter had gone unanswered in recent weeks.
The review will examine “the full scope of these communications, financial contributions connected to Epstein, and any related matters relevant to understanding these issues fully,” the board said, adding that the law firm would also make recommendations to the board on donor vetting policies and conflicts of interest.
“The board is committed to sharing the results and communicating how we will move forward as a community,” the statement said.
Dr. Botstein said that his relationship with Mr. Epstein had begun with a small unsolicited gift in 2011. He then courted Mr. Epstein for a possible major gift that would never materialize. “A guy sent us money, and we followed up,” Dr. Botstein, who is known as a talented fund-raiser, said to The Times in 2023. “It’s a simple story.”
Vimal Patel writes about higher education for The Times with a focus on speech and campus culture.
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