During his 51 years as president, Botstein racked up a long list of accomplishments, but the final six months of his tenure have been marred by controversy over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Photo illustration by Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed | Jemal Countess/Getty Images | peterspiro/iStock/Getty Images
Speaking before hundreds of graduating high schoolers and their families at a Bard High School Early College graduation ceremony in Manhattan, outgoing Bard College President Leon Botstein faced a chorus of boos. “To get anything done,” he told graduates, “you’re going to have to dance with the devil.” The New York Times reported that the ensuing roar was so loud Botstein paused, shook his head and then said, “The fifth piece of advice I would give is appropriate to your response: Don’t judge too quickly things in life.”
A Bard spokesperson told the Times that Botstein was not referencing his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender whom Botstein courted as a potential Bard donor for years. But several students interpreted his comments that way, the Times reported. Botstein’s advice to graduates echoed a remark he made to the external law firm that investigated his ties to the financier this past spring: “I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God’s work.”
