Leon Botstein Quits All Bard Arts Posts After Epstein Letter

Leon Botstein resigned this week from every Bard College post he still held, days after a House Judiciary Committee letter accused him of having "likely enabled and possibly even participated in" Jeffrey Epstein's crimes.

Botstein had run Bard from 1975 until announcing his retirement in May. The Justice Department's Epstein Files, a trove of documents released by the DOJ, showed his correspondence with the convicted sex offender ran deeper than previously disclosed.

The committee delivered its letter to Bard's leadership on Wednesday, the New York Times reports. The same letter criticized Bard's handling of sexual misconduct complaints during Botstein's half-century tenure.

What changed on Wednesday?

The House Judiciary Committee's inquiry into Epstein's Bard ties is led by Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the panel's ranking Democrat. Botstein's legal representatives declined to comment.

Until this week, Botstein kept teaching students and running Bard's music programs. He remained artistic co-director of the Bard Music Festival and led The Orchestra Now, the college's graduate-level orchestra program. He also continued conducting the American Symphony Orchestra in New York.

What did the independent review find?

Bard commissioned an outside review in April, conducted by the law firm WilmerHale. The firm, a global outfit with a large investigations practice, cleared Botstein of criminal conduct.

It found, however, that his Epstein ties cast doubt on his leadership. "In his public statements and his statements to the Bard community, President Botstein minimized and was not fully accurate in describing his relationship with Epstein," the review concluded.

The report also documented Botstein's visits to Epstein's now-notorious island, his invitations to Epstein to visit Bard, and payments he accepted. It quoted him as telling colleagues: "I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God's work."

How did faculty respond?

Faculty at the Fisher Center at Bard, which Botstein founded in 1990, published an open letter to the college's board of trustees. The letter cited "ongoing unease among our community, and instilled a broad sense of distrust in Botstein's ability to be an effective, transparent leader in any capacity."

It called on Bard leadership to terminate its contracts with him: "We refuse to perpetuate, endorse, or repeat the choices that Botstein made to implicate Bard and specifically the Fisher Center in the facilitation of abuse and human trafficking."

What was Botstein's defense?

In a written statement to the Times, Botstein called Bard "my professional and intellectual home for six decades." He added: "I wish I'd never met Epstein. I did not know then what a monster he was."

He pinned his conduct on fundraising pressure. His friendship with Epstein, he said, was driven by "my urgent responsibilities to raise resources for an institution committed to the arts that was struggling to find donors."

What's at stake for Bard's arts programs?

Botstein built Bard's reputation over five decades. The college is home to the Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS), one of the country's most prominent graduate curatorial programs, and the affiliated CCS Hessel Museum of Art. Bard's curatorial track has long been treated like the curatorial equivalent of a top MFA program.

The Fisher Center, founded in 1990, hosts residencies and performances year-round. The Bard Music Festival and The Orchestra Now draw audiences from across the Hudson Valley. Botstein's departure leaves those programs without their longtime figurehead at the precise moment federal scrutiny lands on the campus.

ARTnews contacted Bard College for comment but received no response by publication time.