My first surprise on reading this article about Bard College was learning that they’d had the same president for 51 years. That’s astonishing to me — I’ve been at one university for a quarter century, and I’ve seen a half dozen chancellors come and go. I am accustomed to the transient nature of administrators, and think it’s disturbing that one person would have control of a university for that long. Bard College is located near New York, though, and while about the same size as UMM, it is vastly more wealthy, owning lots of valuable property, with valuable connections. I’m sure it was profitable to be president there.
But no more! The president of Bard College, Leon Botstein, is stepping down. You may not be surprised by the reason: he was a good buddy with Jeffrey Epstein.
WilmerHale’s report, released on Friday, detailed Botstein’s extensive in-person contacts with Epstein, including “approximately 25 visits to Epstein’s townhouse, a two-day visit to Epstein’s Little St. James Island and a flight to the island with one such woman (along with Leon Black’s family), two visits by Epstein to Bard and to various concerts and recitals accompanied by multiple women who have since been identified as victims of Epstein, and multiple requests that President Botstein help such women — in the form of invitations to concerts and rehearsals, visits with the women and their parents, advice on their musical careers, etc.”
The Times Union has previously reported on Epstein’s visits to Bard’s campus in Annandale-on-Hudson as well as Epstein’s efforts to leverage his relationship with Botstein to lure women, including musicians, into his orbit, whom Epstein later victimized.
Holy crap. What a horror story — I’m sure Botstein is now persona non grata on campus and the college is rushing to repair the reputational damage of being led by an enabler of pedophiles. What parent would want to send their child to a college with such a parasite roaming the campus?
But no. Botstein is going to be stinking up the place for a good long while.
He will retire from the presidency but said he would remain as a faculty member, teacher and musician. He also said he will continue to operate the Bard Music Festival, SummerScape, as well as the Bard Conservatory, and will live on campus at Finberg House.
I don’t understand how they wouldn’t simply evict the guy out of hand. So this old creep is going to be hanging about with students and alumni and faculty until he drops dead?
It’s amazing how no one affiliated with Epstein has suffered any real consequences, other than Ghislane Maxwell, who recently got transferred to a cushier prison and has politicians considering granting clemency. I’ve never supported a rich pedophile, which, in hindsight, is looking like a poor career decision.
It’s interesting how none of the prominent people connected to Epstein have committed suicide. They are apparently all arrogant enough that they think they can ride it out.
It’s appalling how these people cam make a mockery of justice. A large number of credible complaints are quietly swept under the carpet while not one of Epstein’s clients has even been indicted. And we can’t expect anything from the FBI under the current leadership of J Edgar Boozer.(nice nickname which, apparently, annoys him no end) Maxwell is the token convict but no one more powerful, further up the “chain of command” has been punished, rather like the My Lai massacre or the Abu Graib abuses, Junior ranks carry the can while the higher echelons get away scot-free.
…has politicians
considering granting clemencybuying her silence. FIFY.He forgot the Tang suit that is compulsory for Bond villains.
Question: Did Blofeld ever hang out with sexual predators? I don’t think so. We have a category of supervillains that have higher standards than college/university presidents.
I’m pretty sure that is the college from the Steely Dan song “My Old School”.
Kudos to the students who continued pushing for his ouster, despite getting nothing but condescending pushback from the school’s board, and also from the NYT.
If someone has been running an institution the size and complexity of a university for 51 years, the governors/trustees are a bit suspect. Either they (or their predecessors at this stage) appointed someone without the necessary leadership experience, or they have kept someone on way past the point they should have retired.
I’d never heard of Bard college.
It is a small private college with around 3,000 students. It is also expensive.
I’m not going there and still have sticker shock.
birgerjohansson @ 4:
Per the Wikipedia article on Blofeld:
So, canonically, SPECTRE has a lower tolerance of sexual predators than the average US institution.