Former Bard College President Leon Botstein is resigning immediately from "all Bard-affiliated positions." The announcement in a letter to the college community Wednesday was made after details from a House Judiciary Committee investigation into Botstein's ties to Jeffrey Epstein were shared with the private institution.
Maryland Democratic U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is calling on federal law enforcement to investigate Botstein as a possible co-conspirator in Epstein's sex trafficking operation.
Raskin said the evidence meets the federal standard for opening a criminal investigation.
The FBI directed WAMC to the Justice Department for comment. WAMC has reached out.
According to the committee investigation, an email was sent from the address president@bard.edu to Epstein in 2014 asking if a young woman being trafficked by Epstein was "for me, or are you keeping her for yourself." The committee said its investigation found Epstein used his relationship with the orchestral conductor to convince the unidentified victim "that she could have a successful musical career after modeling."
In a statement Thursday, Botstein said, "The allegations in this letter are untrue, including an email that I did not author or send. Any assertion that I knew of or was involved in Epstein's criminal behavior is wrong."
Botstein, who retired as president of Bard earlier this year, has maintained that his relationship with the late sex offender was solely for fundraising purposes. Botstein was mentioned thousands of times in Epstein's emails released by the Justice Department.
On campus Thursday, first-year student Ingrid Laurison said Botstein's assertion that his relationship with Epstein was about fundraising has fallen apart.
“I mean, we knew he was like associated with Epstein, right? But he was telling us, it's all for the money, like 'I was trying to do it for Bard,' ... but no, he was like involved with the actual trafficking, too," she said, referencing the allegations in Raskin's letter. "So it's just like he's like a liar.”
Botstein held meetings with the students last year when questions about his alleged friendship with Epstein faced intense public scrutiny. Second-year student Elise Ramos was one of them.
“When it was all first going on, we went to one of the, like, meetings with Botstein where we talked about it, and he was very, like, I would say dismissive, just like no, like no, like whatever, no," Ramos said Thursday. "And so I think that now him, like, suddenly resigning when before he was like, It's fine, like no, like nothing happened. ... he looks guilty, I'd say, because of this sudden resignation, especially with his earlier like, defensive and dismissiveness.”
Raskin also announced Wednesday that it was separately provided allegations by more than a dozen whistleblowers of "decades of unpunished sexual misconduct at Bard, including allegations that Botstein groped women and intervened in Title IX proceedings to protect offenders."
In a statement Wednesday, Brandon Weber, chair of the Bard College Board of Trustees, said, "The college president has not had unilateral decision-making authority over Title IX investigations or adjudications since the 2015-2016 school year."
Weber said in the statement that an independent external investigator reviews formal complaints alleging sexual harassment or assault. They then submit a report to an impartial hearing chair. The board chair said the college "maintains a fair, impartial, and accessible Title IX process," citing gender-based misconduct and sexual assault, including bystander intervention training, administered to all first-year students.
"Our message to everyone in the Bard community is simple: if you file a complaint, we will investigate it fairly, thoroughly, and with the utmost respect for your safety," Weber said in the statement.
Second-year Bard student Zee Assi said Thursday concerns about how the college handles sexual assault on campus remain.
“There has been a really bad culture of, specifically, certain professors being kind of protected and having their sexual assault allegations, like allegations against them, ignored that I've definitely heard about and it has kind of been presented to me when I was a freshman as kind of like ... this is like something that kind of sucks and is here,” she said.
Following Botstein's retirement from the presidency, he remained a professor and conductor at the Annandale-on-Hudson campus. He was also living in a residence on campus that was designated for him after his retirement.
A college spokesperson confirmed Thursday that Botstein will move out of the president's residence "consistent with his resignation." WAMC has sought comment regarding Botstein's plans to eventually reside on campus in Finberg House.
Raskin first reached out to Bard's board of trustees in June to help the House Judiciary Committee expand its investigation into the school's ties to Epstein. In a letter to the board at the time, Raskin said the college's investigation after Bostein's name appeared in Epstein's emails was too narrow.
WAMC has reached out to Bard College acting president Jonathan Becker for comment.
