Amid Epstein Blowback, Bard President Leon Botstein Talks About Succession Plan But With No Timeline: Report
ARTnews reports that Bard College president Leon Botstein, 79, has discussed a succession plan in which he would retire from the presidency after a successor is found, but with no timeline, amid scrutiny over his connections to Jeffrey Epstein. According to the Times Union, Botstein has met repeatedly with students and staff since February, including three town halls, and has suggested he may remain at Bard as a historian and musician, continuing to teach and run performance programs while moving out of the president’s house. Botstein’s name reportedly appears more than 2,800 times in Epstein-related files, including emails referencing a Caribbean trip, though Botstein has said his relationship with Epstein was tied to fundraising for Bard, which he has led since 1975. Bard’s board hired a law firm in February to review Botstein’s interactions with Epstein, and Botstein said a successor search would follow that review, expected to conclude before the end of May.
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This story was covered in Museum Money Games and AI’s New Frontier