Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Leon Botstein Resigns After Review Exposes Years of Contact and Fundraising Links to Epstein (5/5/26)

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Leon Botstein Resigns After Review Exposes Years of Contact and Fundraising Links to Epstein (5/5/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

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  Speaker 1: What's up everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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  Epstein Chronicles. Over the years, we've talked about a gentleman
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  named Leon Botstein from Bard College and he was a
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  fast friend of Jeffrey Epstein's. Well, according to Leon Botstein,
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  he said that him and Epstein weren't really that close
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  and that their relationship was exaggerated. Well, fast forward to
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  the Epstein files being released, and wouldn't you know it,
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  mister Botstein was lying. So now Leon Botstein has been
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  forced to resign from his position as a president of
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  Bard College. So today we have an article from the
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  Times Union talking about the resignation of Leon Botstein headline
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  leon Botstein resigns as Bard College president. The author of
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  this article is Nora Miss. Leon Botstein, the longtime leader
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  of Bard College, announced Friday afternoon that he was stepping
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  down as president following an internal legal review of his
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  relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Should have just been honest from
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  the very beginning. Like I've said a million times, all
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  these people that have lied about Jeffrey Epstein and their
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  relationship to him, I feel zero remorse when they lose
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  their job or suffer great embarrassment They've had all these
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  years to come forward. Did any of them go and
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  talk to the police, to the FBI, call the survivor
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  and say, look, I was there when you were Is
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  there anything I can do to help you? They never
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  did anything like that, did they. Instead, they all tried
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  to lie about their relationship with Epstein and keep it
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  on the hush. So if you think I give one
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  single damn about any of these people losing their jobs
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  or their freedom, you got another thing coming. You might
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  want to go and talk to that dude, Michael Tracy,
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  because I ain't the one. After completing fifty one years
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  as the president of Bard, I'm announcing that I will
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  be retiring from the presidency at the end of this
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  academic year. June thirtieth, twenty twenty six, Botstein wrote in
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  an email to barred faculty that was shared with The
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  Times Union. Long time coming. I'm sorry, but I don't care.
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  He's an old ass man. Go and enjoy your retirement,
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  Go and iron out your balls, and watch Daytime TV.
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  Whatever you do, stay away from the university. Absolute embarrassment.
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  Botstein's resignation did not mention Epstein or refer to the
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  Justice Department's disclosures about his ties to the convicted sex offender. Oh,
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  of course not has to try and save a little
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  bit of face, right, God forbid you have any humility?
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  Oh well, you see, what had happened was absolute clown show.
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  He will retire from the presidency, but said he would
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  to remain as a faculty member, teacher, and musician. He
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  also said that he will continue to operate the Bard
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  Music Festival Summer Escape as well as the Bard Conservatory,
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  and will live on campus at Finnburg House. Are those
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  his decisions to make? Or is it up to the university.
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  We're letting this guy just, you know, call the game.
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  Seems to me that he's dealing from a weighted deck.
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  In February, Bard's twenty five member board of trustees hired
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  the law firm Wilmerhell to review Botstein's interactions with Epstein,
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  who died in a New York jail cell in twenty nineteen.
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  According to a statement released on behalf of the trustees,
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  the review will include all communication, financial contributions connected to Epstein,
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  and any related matters relevant to understanding these issues fully, Well,
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  wouldn't you know it an actual investigation? And if there
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  was ever, a real investigation launched into any of these
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  people that were close to Epstein, this would be the
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  result because they all lied about it. Did anybody come
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  out and say, look, we were homies. But I had
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  no idea that he was, you know, a scumbag like
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  to the level he was at. I never saw anything
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  like that, and I'm willing to speak to the FBI
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  about it. Nobody said that. Nobody stepped up. All those
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  people that were around them, all those people that were
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  enjoying his largess, all those people that saw those girls
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  on a regular basis at his townhouse or on the island,
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  or in Florida or at Zoro Ranch. So please save
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  the bullshit. And remember we're talking about the smartest people
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  in the room, right, Professors, business leaders, politicians. But they
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  had no fucking idea. A summary of Wilmer Hell's review
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  sent to the board found that Botstein had extensive in
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  person contacts with Epstein, including approximately twenty five visits to
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  Ebstein's townhouse, a two day visit to Ebstein's Little Saint James,
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  and a flight to the island with one such woman
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  along with Leon Black's family. Two visits by Epstein, the
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  Bard and two various concerts and recitals accompanied by multiple
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  women who have since been identified as victims of Epstein,
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  and the multiple requests that President Botstein helps such women
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  in the form of invitations to concerts and rehearsals, visits
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  with women and their parents, advice on their musical careers, etc.
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  Sounds like the guy was deeply entrenched. And again, if
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  this was a RICO investigation like it should be, Botstein
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  would be on the list. How much money did you
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  get from Epstein? What did you do with that money?
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  Those were ill gotten gains. Now we have to freeze
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  your bank account. That's how it works under normal circumstances
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  with normal people like me or you. And that's why
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  I get launched into orbit. Every time we talk about this,
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  and the fact that there was no RICO, it is
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  unbelievable to me. The Times Union had previously reported on
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  Epstein's visits to Bard's campus in Annandel on the Hudson,
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  as well as Epstein's efforts to leverage his relationship with
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  Botstein to lure women, including musicians, into his orbit, whom
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  Epstein later victimized. So Botstein was basically a middleman. Oh
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  I got this pianist you should meet her. Oh I
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  got this cellist. Why don't you have her come over?
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  Oh I got this girl from Russia? Maybe you want
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  her at your house? How is that not facilitating? How
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  is that not trafficking? In my opinion, it is. And
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  mister Botstein, in my opinion, knew exactly what Epstein was
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  up to. Through a spokesman, Botstein had previously denied visiting
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  Little Saint James, where some of Epstein's sex trafficking and
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  assault crimes are believed to have occurred. Botstein has not
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  been charged with or directly implicated in any of Epstein's crimes.
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  That was one of several evasions or lies that the
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  college president told the media and the Bard community about
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  his relationship with Epstein. So if you're lying about that,
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  what else are you lying about? That's really where I'm at.
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  It's not difficult. You don't need to look at the
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  you know, Sumerian cuneiform tablets to figure it out. If
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  you're a bullshit artist, you're a bullshit artist. And if
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  somebody tells me what they are, you better believe your boys.
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  Listening in the wake of disclosure earlier this year about
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  his ties to Epstein, Botstein met at least five times
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  with members of the Bard community on campus. He held
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  three student town halls at his home in February, in March,
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  addressed faculty in March, and spoke with operations and support
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  staff in April. As rumors swirled about his departure, Botstein
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  continued to insist that he would not leave the presidency
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  until the board had selected his replacement. Again, why is
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  that his choice? Like? Is the board at Bard not
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  doing anything? Is the board at Bard board like? What's
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  going on? And for those of you who are not
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  familiar with the university, beautiful place, I mean Addendell on
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  the Hudson. We're talking about an elite community, right, beautiful.
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  And this dirty, rotten son of a bitch has his
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  buddy Epstein hanging out, has all kinds of access to
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  the campus. What are we at Harvard? But in a
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  statement Friday, the Board of Trustees said it had not
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  yet selected a new president. The board said it would
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  soon announce an interim leader for the next academic year
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  and provide details of a national search for the next
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  permanent president. Maybe they can get Larry Summers to come over.
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  The law firms criticized Botstein's failure to investigate Epstein's background
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  as he pursued the financier for donations. According to Wilmer, Hell,
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  Botstein did so against the advice of a senior faculty
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  member who recommended that Bard should not engage with Epstein. Now, look,
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  not everybody in higher learning is a complete piece of shit.
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  I mean, look at doctor Stephen Delay. Doctor Delay was
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  one of the first and most outspoken critics of his colleagues.
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  He's a man that's Oxford trained as a philosopher, and
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  at great risk to himself and professionally, he stood up
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  to these people, and he was one of the first
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  to do it. A quick Internet search would have revealed
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  not only the nature of Epstein's past crimes, but also
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  his lifelong status as a registered Level three sex offender
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  who a cord had found presented or high risk of reoffending.
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  According to the summary, let's bring him on campus. Let's
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  give him an office. Hell let's make him the coach
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  of the rugby team. The summary also noted that Botstein's
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  contact with Epstein over the course of six years could
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  have alerted President Botstein to the possibility that he and
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  Bard would be facilitating Epstein's continued abuse of women, legitimizing Epstein,
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  or exposing Bard's students to persons like Epstein, didn't I
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  just tell you that if this was a real investigation,
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  Botstein would have been arrested. But of course it wasn't
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  a real investigation, was it. In his resignation letter, Botstein
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  said he was proud of his fundraising efforts on behalf
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  of the college over the past decades. In defending his
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  record over the past three months, he continued to say
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  that he cultivated the connection for fundraising purposes and had
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  no knowledge of Epstein's illicit activities. I believe it was
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  prudent and in the best interest of Bard to wait
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  until the Wilmer Hell review was complete to make this announcement,
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  he wrote. Trustees said that the law firm would continue
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  to work with the college leadership to improve its policies
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  on vetting donors and fundraising. The board said concerns raised
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  in recent months have been serious and deeply felt. Well,
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  that's nice about time. Funds associated with Jeffrey Epstein will
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  be directed to organizations that support survivors of sexual harm,
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  according to the board's statement, Well that's good too, but
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  which ones a lot of times that money gets donated
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  and goes right to executives, so much for it being
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  a nonprofit. The board did not specify how much money
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  would be donated. Epstein gave Bard a seventy five thousand
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  dollars donation in twenty twelve and sixty six laptops in
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  twenty fifteen. Botstein has previously said that Epstein connected him
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  to billionaire private equity investor Leon Black, who donated two
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  hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the Arts probe MS
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  at Bard. The board is grateful to President Botstein for
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  his five decades of service to Bard College, his countless accomplishments,
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  and the lasting impact of his leadership. The statement reads, Uh,
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  what you mean the lasting impact of embarrassment, right, Because
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  that's what Leon Botstein is, an embarrassment to himself and
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  to Bard. So in my opinion, this is a long
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  time coming. And as far as Leon Botstein goes, well,
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  there's always Clown College. All the information that goes with
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  this episode can be found in the description box.