Bard College President Leon Botstein speaks at the college’s 2013 commencement. Botstein, who has been Bard’s president for 51 years, announced on Friday that he would resign following the release of a damning report detailing his ties to the convicted sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Philip Kamrass/Associated Press
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON — Leon Botstein, the longtime leader of Bard College, announced Friday afternoon that he was stepping down as president following an internal legal review of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
“After completing 51 years as the president of Bard, I am announcing that I will be retiring from the presidency at the end of this academic year, June 30, 2026,” Botstein wrote in an email to Bard faculty that was shared with the Times Union.
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Botstein’s resignation did not mention Epstein or refer to the Justice Department’s disclosures about his ties to the convicted sex offender. 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.
More: What to know from the Times Union’s investigation into Leon Botstein and Jeffrey Epstein
In February, Bard’s 25-member Board of Trustees hired the law firm WilmerHale to review Botstein’s interactions with Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019. According to a statement released on behalf of the trustees, the review “will include all communications, financial contributions connected to Epstein, and any related matters relevant to understanding these issues fully.”
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A summary of WilmerHale’s review sent to the board found that Botstein had 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.”
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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.
Through a spokesperson, Botstein had previously denied visiting Little Saint James, where some of Epstein’s sex trafficking and assault crimes are believed to have occurred. (Botstein has not been charged with or directly implicated in any of Epstein’s crimes.) That was one of several evasions or lies that the college president told the media and the Bard community about his relationship with Epstein.
The law firm’s summary noted that Botstein “minimized and was not fully accurate in describing his relationship with Epstein” in his public statements and his statements to the Bard community.
In the wake of disclosures earlier this year about his ties to Epstein, Botstein met at least five times with members of the Bard community on campus. He held three student town halls at his home in February and March, addressed faculty in March and spoke with operations and support staff in April. As rumors swirled about his departure, Botstein continued to insist that he would not leave the presidency until the board had selected his replacement.
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But in a statement Friday, the Board of Trustees said it had not yet selected a new president. The board said it would “soon” announce an interim leader for the next academic year and provide details of a “national search” for the next permanent president.
The law firm’s summary criticized Botstein’s failure to investigate Epstein’s background as he pursued the financier for donations. According to WilmerHale, Botstein did so against the advice of a senior faculty member who recommended “that Bard should not engage with Epstein.”
“A quick internet search would have revealed not only the nature of Epstein’s past crimes but also his lifelong status as a registered Level Three Sex Offender who a court had found presented a high risk of re-offending,” according to the summary.
The summary also noted that Botstein’s contact with Epstein over the course of six years “could have alerted President Botstein to the possibility that he and Bard would be facilitating Epstein’s continued abuse of women, legitimizing Epstein, or exposing Bard students to a person like Epstein.”
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In his resignation letter, Botstein said he was proud of his fundraising efforts on behalf of the college over the past decades. In defending his record over the past three months, he continued to say that he cultivated the connection for fundraising purposes and had no knowledge of Epstein’s illicit activities.
“I believe it was prudent and in the best interest of Bard to wait until the WilmerHale review was complete to make this announcement,” he wrote.
Trustees said the law firm would continue to work with college leadership to improve its policies on vetting donors and fundraising. The board said concerns raised in recent months “have been serious and deeply felt.”
“Funds associated with Jeffrey Epstein will be directed to organizations that support survivors of sexual harm,” according to the board’s statement.
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The board did not specify how much money would be donated. Epstein gave Bard a $75,000 donation in 2012 and 66 laptops in 2015. Botstein has previously said that Epstein connected him to billionaire private equity investor Leon Black, who donated $250,000 to arts programs at Bard.
“The Board is grateful to President Botstein for his five decades of service to Bard College, his countless accomplishments and the lasting impact of his leadership,” the statement reads.
Our coverage of the Botstein-Epstein story