Former Bard President Resigns College Affiliations

Leon Botstein, the former Bard College president of five decades, who retired this spring amid scrutiny over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, resigned this week from all of his roles affiliated with the arts school. Botstein announced his retirement in May after a trove of documents collected by the Justice Department, known as the Epstein Files, revealed that the two shared a closer relationship than previously disclosed. He nevertheless remained involved in the school’s music programs and was allowed to teach students.

That changed on Wednesday, when the House Judiciary Committee delivered a letter to Bard leaders noting that, while Botstein was president, he “likely enabled and possibly even participated in” Epstein’s criminal activities, the New York Times reports. The letter was also critical of Bard’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints during Botstein’s tenure.

Botstein led Bard College from 1975 and was known as a deft fundraiser who helped earn the small institution global renown. Bard is home to the Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS), one of the most prominent graduate programs in curatorial practice in the United States, as well as its affiliated CCS Hessel Museum of Art. Over his five-decade tenure, Botstein helped make the college’s curatorial program a must-watch.

But his reputation was dealt a grievous blow by the Epstein files, which showed that Botstein corresponded closely with the late financier for years, including after Epstein’s conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution. In one widely reported 2013 exchange, Botstein signed off with “Miss you,” and elsewhere wrote of treasuring his “new friendship” with Epstein, even wishing him well after news broke of his sex-trafficking scheme.

Bard College commissioned an independent review of Botstein’s relationship with Epstein in April. Conducted by the law firm WilmerHale, the review determined that Botstein had not committed any crimes but found that his ties to Epstein cast doubt on his leadership. “In his public statements and his statements to the Bard community, President Botstein minimized and was not fully accurate in describing his relationship with Epstein,” the review concluded.

The review also noted that Botstein had visited Epstein’s now-notorious island, invited Epstein to visit Bard, and accepted payments from him. According to the review, Botstein “forcefully” argued that raising money for Bard was “paramount”: “His view was, ‘I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God’s work.’”

Botstein remained closely involved with Bard after his resignation, serving as artistic co-director of the Bard Music Festival and leader of The Orchestra Now, the college’s graduate-level music program. He also continued to conduct the American Symphony Orchestra. His lingering presence, however, was divisive on campus.

Faculty at the Fisher Center at Bard, which Botstein founded in 1990, published an open letter to the Bard board of trustees expressing concern that the reported details of Botstein’s association with Epstein, along with the WilmerHale investigation, had “generated ongoing unease among our community, and instilled a broad sense of distrust in Botstein’s ability to be an effective, transparent leader in any capacity at the College.”

The letter called on Bard leadership to end its contracts with Botstein, concluding: “We refuse to perpetuate, endorse, or repeat the choices that Botstein made to implicate Bard and specifically the Fisher Center in the facilitation of abuse and human trafficking.”

The House Judiciary Committee’s inquiry into Epstein’s ties to Bard is led by Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the committee’s ranking Democratic member. Botstein’s legal representatives declined to comment on the inquiry. In a written statement to the Times, however, Botstein reiterated his commitment to Bard and the classical music field.

“Bard has been my professional and intellectual home for six decades, and its success will never stop mattering to me,” Botstein said. “My continuing involvement is about completing and keeping alive musical and artistic projects that are unique and contribute to Bard, and to the economy and life of the Hudson Valley as well as to the broader world of the arts.

“I wish I’d never met Epstein,” he continued. “I did not know then what a monster he was.” Botstein said his friendship with Epstein was driven by “my urgent responsibilities to raise resources for an institution committed to the arts that was struggling to find donors who claimed to be interested in supporting the arts.”

ARTnews contacted Bard College for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.