TEXAS \u2014 A former University of Texas at Austin professor with a history of sexual-related allegations requested thousands of dollars from Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s charity foundation in 2015 saying it would fund a 2016 conference about campus rape, a letter reveals.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
According to a\u00a0letter\u00a0from recently released U.S. Department of Justice documents, Thomas K. Hubbard, a historian and author who taught under UT Austin\u2019s Classics Department, asked the J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation for a contribution toward a $10,000 to $20,000 funding goal for his conference titled \u201cTheorizing Consent: Educational and Legal Perspectives on Campus Rape\u201d
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The 2016 symposium stemmed from Hubbard\u2019s concerns over Title\u00a0IX\u00a0policies he felt had \u201clow\u00a0evidentiary\u00a0standards and lack of due process safeguards\u201d
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This isn\u2019t the first time Hubbard has made headlines for issues regarding sexual topics. In 2020, the former professor sued a UT Austin student \u2014 and later several more \u2014 for creating flyers alleging he supported and encouraged people \u201cto prey on underage boys\u201d and engage in \u201cillicit acts,\u201d according to the\u00a0Austin American-Statesman
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Months before the libel suit, students advocated for the university to fire Hubbard after discovering his writings on sexual relationships between minors and adult men in ancient cultures such as Greece. Some also held protests and vandalized Hubbard\u2019s home, the Statesman reported<\/p>\n
According to the\u00a0letter<\/a> from recently released U.S. Department of Justice documents, Thomas K. Hubbard, a historian and author who taught under UT Austin\u2019s Classics Department, asked the J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation for a contribution toward a $10,000 to $20,000 funding goal for his conference titled \u201cTheorizing Consent: Educational and Legal Perspectives on Campus Rape.\u201d The 2016 symposium stemmed from Hubbard\u2019s concerns over Title IX policies he felt had \u201clow evidentiary standards and lack of due process safeguards.\u201d<\/p>\n The at-the-time new directives, he wrote, led to the incorrect expulsion of students in several cases.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has prematurely terminated the careers of too many promising students who, because of the disciplinary expulsion, are unable to continue their education at any university,\u201d Hubbard wrote.<\/p>\n Hubbard wrote to Epstein that his original $12,000 budget would not fund the conference. With money from Epstein\u2019s foundation, he could invite more speakers, record the conference and publish its papers.<\/p>\n According to The Daily Texan<\/a>, which first acquired and shared the letter, Hubbard said he did not receive any money from Epstein\u2019s charitable foundation.<\/p>\n Hubbard attached a conference description to the end of his letter, which described its aim \u201cto interrogate the concept of sexual consent\u201d and examine the role of educational institutions in matters concerning rape.<\/p>\n \u201cHow does the ubiquity of alcohol and other intoxicants in student social life complicate assessment of consent, and should they be more stringently regulated in the interest of creating a rape-free environment?\u201d the description reads. \u201cHow should educational institutions best balance the rights of the accused with the need to protect victims from a threatening environment?\u201d<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time Hubbard has made headlines for issues regarding sexual topics. In 2020, the former professor sued a UT Austin student \u2014 and later several more \u2014 for creating flyers alleging he supported and encouraged people \u201cto prey on underage boys\u201d and engage in \u201cillicit acts,\u201d according to the Austin American-Statesman<\/a>.<\/p>\n Months before the libel suit, students advocated for the university to fire Hubbard after discovering his writings on sexual relationships between minors and adult men in ancient cultures such as Greece. Some also held protests and vandalized Hubbard\u2019s home, the Statesman reported.<\/p>\n