Photo Credit: American Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leon Botstein, by Steven Pisano / CC by 2.0
Longtime Bard College president and classical conductor Leon Botstein is now feeling the heat as a trove of emails connecting him to Jeffrey Epstein come to light. Here’s what we know.
Bard College has long been associated with its president, Leon Botstein, whose tenure and influence in higher education have been celebrated for decades across the industry. That includes a long and celebrated career in classical music and a number of collaborations with storied symphonies, ensembles, and performers.
But now, the trove of Epstein-related documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice have sparked scrutiny into Botstein’s multi-year friendship with the convicted pedophile.
Botstein, the music director of the American Symphony Orchestra, is mentioned over 2,500 times across the Epstein emails.
Many of them stem from meeting confirmations with Epstein’s assistant, Leslie Groff. But the emails authored by Botstein indicate a relationship of admiration—several years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
In 2013, Botstein wrote that he cherished “this new friendship,” and invited Epstein to visit the Bard High School Early College campus in Queens. In 2018, he sent a sympathetic note to Epstein after some bad press, saying he hoped the financier was “holding up.”
The way Botstein tells it, this relationship was purely transactional and focused on fundraising for the school. He insists Epstein was not a friend, despite the emails implying a more familiar relationship. The pair even discussed Vladimir Nabokov—author of the controversial novel “Lolita,” of which Epstein had multiple copies—after Epstein donated $125,000 to the school.
“I greatly cherish this new friendship and I have real admiration for how you go about doing things,” wrote Botstein in a March 2013 email.
The luminary also didn’t seem concerned that Epstein was a registered sex offender; Botstein even invited him to visit a high school filled with students around the same age as many of Epstein’s victims.
Botstein claims that Epstein never took him up on multiple invitations to visit this and other schools, and that the “warm tone” of his interactions with the convicted pedophile were simply a “common fundraising practice.”
“My interactions with Epstein were always and only for the sole purpose of soliciting donations for the College,” wrote Botstein. “Mr. Epstein was not my friend; he was a prospective donor.”
“I pursued this development prospect over a span of approximately six years, at a time of economic stress following the financial crisis, in a manner consistent with my practice of sustained communications with donors and potential donors to the College.”
Despite Botstein’s statement, Bard College students have told the press the revelations are “gross.”
“He was willing to socialize with a convicted sex offender, just for money that might not even benefit students,” one student told Times Union. “It’s so sad to see someone who we thought was on the right side supporting all of this horrible stuff.”
Two petitions calling for Botstein’s resignation have made the rounds on social media, with alleged signatures from Bard students, alumni, parents, and faculty. But so far, Bard has not indicated that Botstein will resign.
