yahoo news | Letter: Don't rush to judgment on Bard president

To the editor: Having known Bard College President Leon Botstein and his work for more than 50 years, I decry the exaggerated accusations and rush to judgment surrounding his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein (“Simon’s Rock community calls for resignation of Bard President Leon Botstein over ties to Jeffrey Epstein,” Eagle, March 10). Our collective inability to hold the most wealthy and powerful Epstein collaborators accountable has redirected our rage toward anyone with even a limited association, often those who are most open and apologetic.

As Bard president, Botstein was tasked with fundraising for our small, chronically under‑funded liberal‑arts college—efforts that extend educational opportunities beyond its means, including programs for prisoners, refugees on the West Bank, and communities in Africa. It is unsurprising that Bard might have been swept into the net by promises of donations from a “skilled manipulator, prodigious networker, and serial exaggerator.” We still do not know the nature of Botstein’s relationship with Epstein—whether it was a profound lapse in judgment, a lack of transparency, a peripheral association, or a systemic breakdown—until the investigation is completed.

Bard has appropriately engaged top‑notch outside counsel, and Epstein’s victims and the Bard community deserve no less. Botstein deserves a fair investigation, not a public inquest and assumed guilt. In these times, Bard College needs its president’s full attention, and Botstein needs Bard’s full support while the inquiry proceeds. — Lisa Newmann, Stockbridge (Class of 1975)

Read more: https://www.berkshireeagle.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-dont-rush-to-judgment-on-bard-president/article_367bd106-dfbf-4319-aaa1-aa36d6cf73ec.html

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The Guardian | Epstein victim says Bard president helped legitimize sex offender by Stephanie Kirchgaessner

Leon Botstein’s communications and relationship with Epstein under review by WilmerHale law firm, while Bard president says he never witnessed anything inappropriate

A victim of Jeffrey Epstein who had previous interactions with Leon Botstein said she believed the Bard College president, whose relationship with the late sex offender is currently under review, was part of a group of influential and accomplished men whose proximity to Epstein helped to rehabilitate his reputation.

Svetlana Pozhidaeva, a former Russian model who worked as a “staffer” for Epstein, told the Guardian in an interview that she saw Botstein with Epstein together “quite frequently” – including having flown with him on a trip to Epstein’s island in December 2012 – and that she believed his reputation as a “sophisticated intellectual” helped “legitimize” Epstein.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/24/jeffrey-epstein-bard-college-president

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