Harvard and Bard face fresh questions from lawmakers over ties to Epstein

Harvard University and Bard College are facing new questions about the institutions' relationship with Jeffrey Epstein amid allegations that the convicted child sex trafficker leveraged his ties to the universities and their faculty to traffic women, while also burnishing his reputation to avoid detection.

Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, said in a statement that Harvard and Bard had both previously attempted to investigate the role their universities and leadership played in facilitating Epstein's abuse, but that those attempts either failed or fell short of a full accounting of what occurred.

Among other demands for information, Raskin has asked Bard to make Leon Botstein, its outgoing president whom Bard has said will retain a role at the college, available for a transcribed interview. Raskin also requested records related to Epstein's donations, communications, admissions, interactions and institutional decision-making, as well as the full results of an internal review by the college.

Raskin is also seeking extensive records from Harvard, including all records, financial documents and communications relating to Epstein's funding of research and his personal relationships with faculty members. Raskin said Harvard's previous investigations into the university's ties to Epstein – conducted in 2008 and 2019 – were at best incomplete and at worst misleading.

Raskin said the internal investigations failed to uncover a series of donations Epstein made after Harvard had instituted a ban against such donations in 2008, as well as the full extent of his relationship with Harvard faculty members, including Harvard's former president, Larry Summers, and the depth of his personal involvement with student admissions and faculty research.

"It is time for Harvard, like the rest of America, to come clean and engage in the comprehensive accounting that will allow us to learn from this nightmare, take appropriate legislative action, and make sure nothing like it ever happens again," Raskin said in a letter to Harvard president Alan Garber.

Harvard announced in February that Summers was resigning from teaching at the end of the academic year. The announcement followed the justice department's release of the Epstein files, which revealed more details about Summers and Epstein's relationship. The emails showed Summers and Epstein communicated frequently, on topics ranging from politics to women, including Summers pursuing a relationship with a person who saw him as an "economic mentor".

Summers served as Harvard's president from 2001 to 2006. Epstein donated more than $9m to Harvard and its affiliated programs from 1998 to 2008, which overlapped with Summers's tenure.

Summers has previously said: "I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein."

In a separate letter addressed to Bard chair James Cox Chambers – whom the Guardian previously reported has recently stepped down from that role – Raskin said he was seeking to understand how Epstein exploited and leveraged "multifarious ties in higher education", from Bard to Columbia University, Harvard and New York University.

Raskin pointed out in the letter that Botstein was resigning from his position as president, a role he held for more than 50 years, following a Bard-initiated investigation that concluded his tenure was marked by "substantial lapses in leadership and candor".

There was evidence, Raskin said, that Epstein's relationship to Botstein and Bard leaders "helped him maintain and expand his illegal activities, including potentially trafficking women in New York and the Russian Federation".

The Guardian reported last month that Bard's board of trustees voted to end Botstein's 51-year tenure after board members were presented with the results of an independent review of his relationship with Epstein. Botstein framed his departure as a long-planned retirement in a statement on 1 May.

An Epstein victim who had previous interactions with Botstein said she believed the Bard College president was part of a group of influential and accomplished men whose proximity to Epstein helped to rehabilitate his reputation.

A summary of an internal investigation conducted by the WilmerHale law firm, which was initiated by Bard's board of trustees and was released publicly on 1 May, found that nothing Botstein did in connection to his relationship with Epstein was "illegal". It also found that the Bard president was "not fully accurate" in describing his relationship with Epstein publicly or to the Bard community, and stated that Botstein did not fully "see" a risk to Bard's reputation when he pursued Epstein as a donor for the college, or the potential risk his contacts with Epstein posed to Bard students.

The law firm noted that Botstein had not disclosed fees he accepted under a consulting agreement with an Epstein entity.

Botstein previously denied being friends with Epstein, and has said he never witnessed anything inappropriate, nor had any visibility into Epstein's "monstrous crimes". He has never been charged with any wrongdoing related to Epstein.

Harvard and Bard did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Raskin is seeking information from both universities by 1 July.