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. …