College Campuses Are in Upheaval Over Faculty Ties to Epstein

Lots of Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to prominent universities and scholars, which he maintained through monetary donations and luxury gifts, have been known since his 2019 arrest and suicide in a Manhattan jail cell. After the U.S. Department of Justice released 3 million new documents last month related to criminal investigations into the late sex trafficker, it became clear that his influence in higher education was much broader.

As a result of email exchanges included in this new tranche of records, several professors and university administrators found themselves publicly associated with Epstein for the first time and caught in a whirlwind of angry students, alumni and colleagues.

Merely appearing in records does not implicate someone in any alleged criminality, but the unrest over these interactions has affected all kinds of campuses, from small art schools to large public universities and the Ivy League. Faculty members who had dealings with Epstein, suddenly called to account, have largely insisted that they viewed him as nothing more than a deep-pocketed donor, only stirring more controversy over the financial ethics of American academia.

At New York’s School of Visual Arts, for example, flyers declaring “ONE OF YOUR TEACHERS IS IN FILES” and “SVA WANTS ANY CONNECTION WITH EPSTEIN” appeared on campus bulletin boards following the DOJ’s latest release. The posters showed emails between Epstein and David A. Ross, chair of the school’s MFA Art Practice program and former director of several contemporary art museums, dating from October 2009, more than a year after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting prostitution and recruiting minors to engage in prostitution. During one of these exchanges, Epstein floated the idea of ​​an art exhibit called “Statutory,” featuring “girls and boys ages 14 to 25… where they look nothing like their real age.” Epstein further explained, “Some people go to prison because they can’t determine their true age. controversial…fun. » Ross replied: “You are amazing. That would be a very powerful [sic] and a weird book.

It was through the poster campaign that some on campus first learned of the Ross-Epstein relationship. A current SVA student who requested anonymity out of fear of action the school might take against him said he only became aware of Ross’ presence in Epstein’s files when he saw the flyers. (This individual also shared photos of two different Ross bulletins with WIRED.) “I would like to see [the school administration] conduct an audit of all MFA chairs,” they say.

Another current SVA student who also requested anonymity due to his employment at the school told WIRED that campus security removed some flyers about Ross. “I am a student worker and my boss tells my colleagues to remove the flyers to avoid getting in trouble with the administration,” they say. That didn’t necessarily stop the chatter in the school. (SVA did not respond to a question about whether campus staff had been instructed to remove posters regarding Ross’s emails with Epstein.)

This student sees the Epstein-Ross correspondence not as an SVA-specific scandal but as “emblematic of things that are wrong with the art world and higher education as a whole,” both of which are “saturated with rich, connected people.” They believe that “the true extent of [Epstein’s] The influence is much greater than what can be read in the files.

Ross resigned from his position at SVA on February 3, saying in a statement to the New York Times that he met Epstein in the 1990s as director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. “I knew him as a wealthy patron and collector, and it was part of my job to befriend people who had the ability and interest to support the museum,” he wrote. Ross explained that he believed Epstein’s account of his Florida conviction was a “political frame-up.” When Epstein was investigated again, this time for alleged sex trafficking of minors, Ross was supportive, calling it a “terrible error of judgment” in his statement, saying he later felt “ashamed for having fallen for his lies.”