Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
Epstein Chronicles. The halls of higher education are littered with
people that were accepting Jeffrey Epstein's money and his friendship.
And one of those people is Leon Botstein. And at
Bard University, where he is the president and a professor,
the students are calling for him to step down. And
it was only a matter of time before the ghost
to Jeffrey Epstein came looking for Leon Botstein. These guys
were very close, and Epstein was somebody that was donating
a lot of money to Botstein and was somebody that
was in contact with him quite a bit. And now,
rightfully so, people are demanding answers. So today we have
an article from the Times Union and the headline Epstein
revelation revived decades of sexual assault controversies at Bard. This
article was oft by Sarah Trafton, carrying two way radios
and bedding. Dozens of students barricaded themselves inside Bard College
administrative building. A banner hung from a window assed why
does Bard tolerate rape? Outside, more than one hundred students
gathered in solidarity, chanting whatever we do wherever we go,
yes means yes. And no means no. Well, I think
that's a pretty fair statement. Huh. And is there anything
worse than a scumbag that assaults somebody else? I don't think.
So here's an idea. Go home, get on the internet,
take care of yourself, leave everybody else alone. You stick
degenerate fux. The year was nineteen ninety one, and Barred's
students were protesting and alleged rapist on campus. An article
in the student newspaper reported that the young man's father
had donated money to the college. The college president denied
having a close relationship with a donor, calling the suggestion childish.
Oh yeah, I'm sure you had no kind of relationship
with any of your donors. Huh, none whatsoever. Thirty five
years later, tensions arising again on Bard's campus amid demands
for the resignation of longtime leader Leon Botstein after new
evidence of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, one of the
world's most infamous sex offenders. On March eleventh, about forty
students protested outside a building where Botstein was meeting with faculty.
No more silence, no more fear, they chanted, A safer
campus starts right here. A banner displayed inside the Campus
Center building read, Epstein is just the tip of the Iceberg.
Faculty know what is below. Look, they're not wrong. Jeffrey
Epstein was just the tip of the Iceberg. And if
you think he's the only one doing what he was doing,
you're crazy. There's already another. Jeffrey Epstein operated right under
our noses. And until we get serious about holding everybody
that's involved in shit like this accountable, it's just going
to continue to happen. In the wake of the US
Department of Justice January thirtieth release of millions of documents
from its Epstein investigation, Botstein has acknowledged that he knew
of at least some of the allegations against the financier,
as well as being previously aware of the two thousand
and eight conviction that required Epstein to register as a
sex offender and maintain contact with him anyway. Well, that's
because he didn't care, just like the rest of them.
But do you expect that from a professor. We shouldn't write.
A professor should be somebody that steps up and protects
people that are under his charge. But instead you have
this dude hanging out with Epstein. Covorting with Epstein, taking
money from Epstein, doing god knows what with Epstein, meanwhile,
not giving a damn about the young people that Epstein
is absolutely brutalizing. What another building on campus, another couple
of bucks for you to funnel to one of your
friends so you can lounder money, because I know damn
well that money isn't going towards the betterment of humanity,
just another income source for these people to pilfer. In
the February edition of The Bard Observer, the student newspaper,
Botstein told reporters he should have stopped communicating with Epstein
after Virginia roberts accusations that she was trafficked to men
became publicly known in two thousand and five. Instead, Botstein
sent his condolences because that's how he truly felt. Now retroactively,
he might feel bad because he's facing scrutiny, but at
the time his actions speak louder than his words. And
there's no doubt that people like him were more concerned
about Jeffrey Epstein having to go to jail than they
were about the girls who were abused. See that from
the contemporaneous emails between the two considering Botstein's have century
leadership at Bard. These revelations have raised concerns about the
college future, but they have also prompted questions about its past. Look. Man,
when you have a school like this that's already been
you know, under the microscope previously, and then you have
somebody like Leon Botstein opening the doors and having Epstein
be involved, people are gonna have questions, especially now when
all of this is coming out. And I hate to
say it again, but I have to a lot of
this has to do with the legacy media failing you.
They should have been on these stories. People like me
only have so much reach, and then you have these
global outlets that could have broke this story at any time,
but they chose not to. So it's not that there
was a lack of knowledge or information, there was a
lack of willpower on behalf of the legacy media to
inform you about what was going on. Several students and
alumni interviewed by The Times referred to Botstein's size to
Epstein as all too emblematic of bards long standing issues
with sexual assault that history laid out in lawsuits and
media reports, as well as accounts of members of the
student body and former Bard employees points to a darker
portrait of the idellic Hudson Valley campus, where as recently
as twenty twenty three, faculty could sleep with students as
long as they disclosed their relationship. And look, I get it,
people are eighteen of age. If they want to do
whatever they want to do, not really my business. But
when we're talking about the power dynamic between professors and students,
probably not a good idea. And if I was running
a university, I would have a policy in place against it,
because you just open yourself to all kinds of craziness. Right.
For decades, the college is face scrutiny for how its administration,
and Botstein in particular, has handled sexual assault rape allegations.
From twenty fifteen to twenty seventeen, Botstein served as the
final arbiter in Title nine cases, meaning he was in
charge of setting the punishment for students and faculty accused
of harassment or even sexual assault. Jeffrey Epstein's good buddy,
Leon Botstein is in charge of sexual assault. I mean,
you can't make this shit up. You couldn't write a
storyline that's this nefarious. During that period, two female students
attempted to take their own lives after the administration permitted
they're alleged rapists to remain on campus. Botstein stepped back
from his role in twenty seventeen following student protests, but
Bard's twenty twenty five Title nine policy states that the
president and or the dean still ultimately oversee the punishment
of accused faculty members. So basically, what they're saying there
is that the Skull and Bones Society or whatever the
fuck's going on, is going to be in charge of
who is going to stay and who's going to go,
and what allegations have merit. I'm sure that's a very
comforting fact for everybody who's been abused, especially these girls
who are on campus with the rapist who hurt them.
You don't throw that dude off campus. You don't kick
him out of there forever. Sure, let's let him run
around the campus and do whatever he wants. Over the
past thirty five years, Bart has faced at least three
Title nine complaints and five lawsuits alleging the administration mishandled
sexual assault cases, two of which named Botstein in his
individual capacity. December twenty fifteen, the US Department of Education's
Office of Civil Rights launched an investigation into Bard, a
probe the college said was closed in twenty twenty four
after no systemic issues were found. Attempts to confirm this
information with the federal office were met with an automated
message stating that it was temporarily closed. Oh yeah, everything's
fine here. We did an internal investigation, and everything came
back on the up, says every organization that's ever been
involved in bullshit. For many students, the college board's recent
decision to hire an outside law firm to review Botstein's
communication and financial dealings with Epstein is not enough. In
a February twenty second letter, a coalition of students called
take Back Bard laid out their concerns. There is no
reason to trust that this independent review of the full
scope of communication, financial contributions connected to Epstein, and any
related matters will address or even interrogate the broader culture
of sexual abuse on the campus. The letter states, there's
no reason to believe that if this review truly does
investigate the pervasive sexual misconduct on the campus, that Bard
College will commit to any tangible changes. And if you
know you have a problem on campus, and you don't change,
you should be sued. Now. I'm not going to sit
here and tell you that every campus can control every student.
That's crazy. We know that's not true. But if you're
fostering an environment where this shit's acceptable, then you and
my friend have a problem, and it would seem to
me that Bard has a problem. Bard College spokesperson Jennifer
Strodel said the student group has not contacted college administration
about the concerns they recently shared with reporters, but that
the college set up a meeting to discuss that soon
as we were made aware of them. Cool, get rid
of Botstein, cut his pension, and be done with it.
Until you do that, nobody cares. Another group of students,
Bard ch Er, is pushing back against take Back Bard's
calls for Botstein's resignation, stating that an abrupt change in
leadership puts the future of the college in jeopardy and
will gravely impact some students more than others. Oh yeah,
let's just keep the molester in charge, the molester's friend,
molester's assistant, the dibbler's dude. What are we doing here?
You mean to tell me there's nobody that's better suited
to take over that position. Nobody that's ever went to Bard.
No professors or executives could do what Leon Botstein does.
That's cool. I guess you learn something new every day.
Bard's lifeline programs for students and scholars from war torn
countries and dictatorships do not have counterparts in American higher ed.
A March tenth letter on the group's Instagram account reads.
The letter goes on to describe Botstein as a maverick
who took political risks no other college president did. Oh well,
that just absolves them of everything that happened with Epstein.
No big deal. So he's the only person that would
have people coming over from war torn countries and talking
about war torn countries. If you're so worried about them, boy,
wait until I introduce you to the girls that Jeffrey
Epstein in his pals were abusing. You want to talk
about vulnerable, You want to talk about war torn countries.
In addition into calling for Botstein's resignation, take Back Bard
has used organized protest and a petition to demand that
the administration acknowledge what the group describes as a culture
of sexual misconduct and institute a no tolerance policy for
abusers on campus. Well, that seems very fair to me.
If you're abusing people, you probably shouldn't be on a
college campus. And I'm sorry if that interferes with your
pursuit of higher education. You should have thought of that
before you rape somebody. The list of demands mirror is
the one that students issued in the spring of ninety one.
All right, So the article goes on here talking about
Bard and some of the issues that they've had with
sexual assault on campus, and like usual, that link will
be provided in the description box. But for our purposes,
we're going to finish up that article right here because
the rest of it just goes into the backstory about
well went down at Bard. Doesn't have to do with
Epstein per se, but it just shows you the culture
on the campus. Now when it comes to Botstein, there's
no doubt that that dude needs to answer for his
relationship with Epstein. He's never answered in any meaningful way.
And I think that there's a lot more to come
out as we move forward. So we'll keep our eyes open,
and when we have some more information about mister Botstein,
we'll get that added to the catalog. All the Information
that goes with this episode can be found in the
description box.