A petition, dated Oct. 20, was delivered to Bard College's acting president, Jonathan Becker, and Brandon Weber, the president of Bard's Board of Trustees. The petition has amassed over 1,200 signatures, including current students, alumni, faculty, and staff.
Bard has been at the center of headlines following a recent letter sent to the College from Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. Raskin has been investigating former Bard president Leon Botstein's connections to Jeffrey Epstein, and in this letter, Raskin highlights an email allegedly sent from Botstein to Epstein, regarding one of Epstein's sex trafficking victims. The email says, "Is she for me, or are you keeping her for yourself?"
In the wake of this letter from Raskin, Botstein resigned from his remaining affiliations at Bard, and, according to the College's acting president, Jonathan Becker, moved out of the president's residence on the campus, where he had been living, even though he was not the president.
As WAMC has reported previously, there had been a long-standing plan for Botstein to move into another Bard building called Finberg House, which the college has used as guest housing for visiting scholars over the years.
Part of the terms of Bard's acquisition of Finberg were that it would be used as Botstein's residence upon his retirement. The building has been under renovations for that purpose. But in light of recent Raskin revelations, there is intense scrutiny on the idea of Botstein continuing to have any affiliation with Bard, especially since he's no longer working there in any capacity, and since many students have expressed their concern about his continued presence there.
The petition reads, in part, "We, the undersigned faculty, staff, students, and alumni of Bard College, call on you to prohibit Leon Botstein, the former president of Bard College, from making Finberg House his personal residence, or from taking up residence in any other building on Bard's campus. We have varying reasons for opposing Leon Botstein taking over Finberg House, but we are united in our conviction that Finberg House ought to remain a vital hub of Bard's intellectual community and not the personal residence of a former Bard employee."
The petition goes on to list the accusations against Botstein, which Raskin has shared with the DOJ and the FBI, saying they warrant a federal criminal investigation, and says, "It is a threat to the safety of Bard students, faculty, and staff for us to continue housing someone who has hosted Jeffrey Epstein on campus and who has been reported by multiple whistleblowers for ... sexual misconduct ... and the continual abuse of power. Bard continuing to house Leon Botstein, in spite of the serious potential for an impending federal investigation, threatens the college's public image and calls its reputation as a "private college for the public interest" into question."
Because Botstein has, according to the petition, already moved his belongings into Finberg House, the college has had to cancel previously-existing reservations at Finberg for visiting speakers to the College.
They write that this is coming at a time when faculty in departments at the college are being told that budgets are very tight. They said that because of this, they don't have the finances to make hotel reservations for people who were supposed to stay at Finberg, and that this is undermining the College's mission.
The petition also says, "It is irresponsible for the college to dramatically increase faculty and staff health care premiums, slash program budgets, impose hiring freezes, and charge students over $70,000 in tuition while handing over a $2 million, tax-exempt building to a former employee. The cost of the alterations to the building that Leon Botstein has already begun to request-including turning a garage into an office, building a new separate garage, revamping bedrooms to suit the needs of his adult children, and renovating a perfectly functional bathroom are coming out of the Buildings and Grounds budget, which is already stretched thin ... Our limited budget and staff capacity should be used to serve Bard students and keep the college running, not to fund a lavish retirement home for a former employee."
In a written statement, a Bard spokesperson did not address the petition directly, but wrote "Former President Botstein previously signed a lease to reside in Finberg house, but is not currently living there."
They also said "no speaker visits have been canceled due to housing," and in terms of Finberg renovations, they said the budget for those does not come from Bard's Buildings and Grounds budget, and "there are no renovations happening at Finberg at this time."
