Epstein files cast pall among US faculty and students: ‘I just feel a deep disappointment’
“The latest release of the Epstein files has revealed connections between the disgraced financier and prominent figures in academia, leading to widespread outrage and calls for accountability. Faculty and students at institutions like Barnard College, Columbia University, UCLA, and Bard College are demanding investigations, resignations, and policy changes in response to these revelations. The fallout from the Epstein files continues to reverberate across various industries, including politics, business, and entertainment.
Ties to the disgraced financier run deep through the academic world, documents released by the DoJ show
Major institutions of higher education in the US are reckoning with the latest release of the Epstein files after discovering the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s relationships with board members, professors and administrators on campuses across the country.
In some cases, professors have been placed under review, research centers closed or conferences canceled. Students and staff have responded in different ways, including petitions, open letters and campus forums.
The Guardian spoke with students, employees and alumni at some of the universities implicated.
On 9 February, faculty at Barnard College, the private women’s liberal arts’ college affiliated with Columbia University, published an open letter signed by more than 70 faculty members calling on the university to “acknowledge and investigate” recently released correspondence between Epstein and Francine LeFrak, a prominent donor and member of the school’s board of trustees. LeFrak appears in the Epstein files 15 times, according to reporting from the Barnard Bulletin.
In one appearance, LeFrak asked – in 2010 – to join a close friend and Epstein during “the holidays”; in another, later that year, she invited Epstein “as her guest” to a trip to Rwanda, where she founded an initiative that provides occupational training and employment for female survivors of that country’s genocide.
The letter notes that the connection between Epstein and LeFrak is “repugnant”, particularly since the interaction took place following Epstein’s 2008 conviction of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
“We do not believe that people who maintained contact with a notorious sex trafficker and convicted sex offender express our values, nor have they behaved as proper trustees of Barnard College,” the letter states. It also calls on Barnard to remove LeFrak’s name from the newly constructed Francine A LeFrak Center for Well-Being, which houses the school’s sexual violence education, prevention and outreach program, among other initiatives.
Many faculty members expressed confusion and outrage specifically regarding LeFrak’s relationship to a program that is meant to encourage the health and wellbeing of young women.
“I just feel a real, deep disappointment, because I think, as a women’s college, our mission is directly antithetical to every revelation of those files,” a Barnard professor, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
“It is some very privileged, powerful, in many cases secretive and nefarious men controlling the lives and narratives around a wide swath of women. How can a women’s college – with its stated commitments to women’s health, wellbeing, excellence – have a prominent name on campus that is now associated with a sex offender?”
A Barnard spokesperson the school has “retained independent counsel to review the facts and advise the college accordingly”, and noted that “Barnard is a place where women’s education is championed and where women are supported, uplifted and given the tools to become the best versions of themselves. Barnard has never accepted money from Jeffrey Epstein, and we are not aware of any connection to the college.”
Elsewhere, Columbia University disciplined two people affiliated with its dental college after documents revealed that they helped Epstein’s girlfriend get into the school. Dr Letty Moss-Salentijn was stripped of her title as vice-dean of the dental college while Dr Thomas Magnani was removed from the school’s admissions review committee and volunteer leadership roles.
The university also noted that they will be making a donation of $210,000, the same amount it received from Epstein and related entities, to two New York-based non-profit organizations supporting survivors of sexual abuse and human trafficking.
On the other side of country, UCLA community members have been reeling at a swath of email correspondence between Dr Mark Tramo, an adjunct professor of neurology at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, and Epstein over a 12-year span. While UCLA removed Tramo’s profile page from its website, he is still teaching classes at the university.
“As an academic, I am absolutely outraged by how [Tramo] abused his position,” a UCLA alumni who asked for anonymity wrote to the Guardian.
In 2010, Tramo forwarded Epstein messages from two female students – one at UCLA and the other at Harvard – who had written him to express interest in research opportunities through the Institute for Music and Brain Science, which Epstein had donated money to.
The next day, Epstein replied: “are either of these cute.” Tramo responded: “we’ll see! (you’re terrible!)”
A petition calling on the university to fire Tramo has garnered more than 10,000 signatures. UCLA declined the Guardian’s request for comment.
At Bard, the tiny liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, the latest release of Epstein files have struck a nerve at the center of campus.
A long-term relationship was revealed between Leon Botstein, Bard’s president, and Epstein, prompting students to pen an open letter calling for Botstein to resign.
In his own letter to the Bard community, Botstein sought to clarify his relationship with Epstein, writing: “My interactions with Epstein were always and only for the sole purpose of soliciting donations for the college. Mr Epstein was not my friend; he was a prospective donor.”
In response to a request for comment, a Bard spokesperson referred the Guardian to a statement sent out by the school’s board of trustees to the community on 19 February, in which they announced that the school had retained an external law firm to conduct an independent investigation into communications between Epstein and Botstein. The independent review will include “the full scope of these communications, financial contributions connected to Epstein and any related matters relevant to understanding these issues fully”.
“Botstein has created the Bard that we know,” a current student, who asked to remain anonymous, said. Botstein has been at the helm of the school for more than 50 years and is widely considered synonymous with the institution.
That student also said that the Bard community conflicted over whether Botstein should resign. Those against his resignation have noted his longstanding tenure and role as a prolific fundraiser for the school.
“[The Bard community] speaks out about a lot all the time, but this is something that people can’t talk about because if they do, they lose their funding, their livelihoods,” the student said.
Another student, who also requested anonymity, emphasized the significance of Botstein’s fundraising efforts on campus.
“Putting Bard in a transitional period, or a presidential search, would only hurt the more vulnerable parts of the institution,” she said. “We’re not a very wealthy college, and I think we’ve done really amazing things with the money that Botstein has fundraised.”
At Harvard, former university president Larry Summers announced in December that he was stepping down from his teaching position while the school investigated his ties to Epstein. The university also confirmed that it was widening its investigation to look into donor relationships with the disgraced financier. A 2020 internal review found that Epstein donated $9.1m to the Ivy League institution between 1998 and 2008.
Similarly, Yale University barred computer science professor David Gelernter from teaching while the school reviewed his connection with Epstein. In an email, Gelernter recommended a student to Epstein for a software project, calling her a “v small good looking blonde”.
Ohio State announced an investigation into OBGYN and university professor Dr Mark Landon after files revealed Epstein was sending regular payments to him. Union College trustee Brad Karp resigned from his position on the school’s board over emails sent to Epstein, in addition to his role as chair of law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
Earlier this month, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) confirmed in an email to the community that they suspended “a FIT employee who has an alleged connection to the Epstein enterprise”. While not named in the email, the professor was identified as Lawrence Delson.
The latest release of the Epstein files has created seismic repercussions in a wide variety of industries in the US, the UK and beyond, including politics, business and entertainment.
In the UK, the long-term relationship between Peter Mandelson and Epstein revealed in the files led to Mandelson’s dismissal as British ambassador to the United States. Mandelson has since been asked to testify in front of Congress about the relationship. More notably, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince, was arrested on 19 February on suspicion of misconduct in public office by police investigating his dealings with Epstein.
Ramifications in the US business world were felt by billionaire Thomas Pritzker, who stepped down as executive chair of the hotel chain Hyatt after his ties with Epstein were made public. Top lawyer at Goldman Sachs Kathryn Ruemmler resigned from her role after emails revealed a close relationship between her and Epstein, whom she referred to as “Uncle Jeffrey”.
Dr Peter Attia stepped down from his position as chief science officer for David, a protein bar company, after his correspondence with Epstein, which included particularly lewd language, was released.
Casey Wasserman, a leading Hollywood talent agent, decided to sell his agency after communications with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed. Wasserman is also the chair of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, but has not yet stepped down from that role.“
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