Bard College President Steps Down After Independent Review Exposes His Epstein Lies

Leon Botstein ran Bard College for fifty years. That’s half a century of shaping minds, building programs, and cultivating what the school proudly calls a world-class institution. And now it’s ending because he couldn’t be straight about his friendship with a convicted sex offender.

The 79-year-old president announced Friday he’ll retire at the end of June. The timing isn’t coincidental. An independent review by the law firm WilmerHale just wrapped up, examining exactly how cozy Botstein got with Jeffrey Epstein. The review cleared him of anything illegal, which matters legally but misses the larger point entirely. What it found instead was something arguably worse for someone in his position. Botstein lied about it. Not directly, perhaps, but through omission and minimization, which is just lying with extra steps.

“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. That’s lawyer-speak for: he wasn’t honest with the people who trusted him.

Here’s what gets me about these situations. We’re not talking about some random administrator who met Epstein once at a conference. Documents released by the Justice Department this year showed repeated meetings. Epstein arrived at Bard by helicopter multiple times. You know what kind of relationship involves helicopter visits to a college campus? Not a casual one.

The question isn’t whether Botstein participated in Epstein’s crimes. There’s no evidence of that, and we shouldn’t imply otherwise. The question is about judgment and honesty. Why would a college president maintain a friendly relationship with a man who was already a convicted sex offender? And once that relationship became public knowledge, why downplay it?

Individual liberty includes the freedom to associate with whomever you choose. I believe that deeply. But liberty comes with responsibility, especially when you’re leading an institution that parents trust with their children and their life savings. Traditional principles matter here. Honesty matters. Character matters. The review found Botstein “made decisions in the course of that relationship that reflect on his leadership of Bard.” That’s putting it mildly.

Botstein joins a long roster of prominent Americans who somehow found Epstein’s company acceptable despite his criminal record. That list includes academics, scientists, politicians, and business leaders. It’s a hall of shame that keeps growing every time new documents surface. Each person on that list made a choice to overlook what Epstein was because of what he offered, whether that was money, connections, or the thrill of rubbing elbows with power.

The college’s statement praised Botstein’s five decades of leadership, calling him visionary and committed. Both things can be true. He probably did build something meaningful at Bard. He’ll stay on as a teacher and musician, which tells you the board isn’t treating this as a firing. It’s a managed exit, the kind institutions arrange when they want someone gone but don’t want the mess of a termination.

In his retirement letter, Botstein barely mentioned the Epstein scandal except to note he’d waited for the review to finish before announcing. “I believe it was prudent and in the best interest of Bard to wait until the Wilmer Hale review was complete to make this announcement,” he wrote. Even in his goodbye, he’s being careful with his words. Prudent. In Bard’s best interest. Not: I owe everyone an apology for misleading them.

This matters beyond one college in New York. Elite institutions have spent years protecting their own, making excuses, minimizing scandals. They preach accountability to students while practicing something quite different when their leadership faces scrutiny. Limited government means we can’t and shouldn’t regulate every relationship, but we can demand better from people who hold positions of public trust.

Botstein will retire with whatever pension and benefits a fifty-year presidency earns. The students and faculty at Bard will move forward under new leadership. But the lesson here shouldn’t get lost in the transition. When you lie to people who trust you, eventually that catches up. Even if it takes half a century.