Epstein scandal prompts universities to rethink donor ties
Jeffrey Epstein was a key figure in higher education circles. Professors and university leaders sought him out in hopes of securing donations, and in return he amassed social capital through his connections to elite schools. Today, the fallout from the release of the Epstein files is having an outsized impact on academia, costing many of Mr. Epstein’s former contacts far more than they bargained for.
The Justice Department’s release this year of 3.5 million documents linked to Mr. Epstein revealed more details about the late financier’s relationships with researchers, professors and university presidents. In some cases, records show that prominent academic figures maintained ties to Mr. Epstein long after he became a registered sex offender through a 2008 plea deal.
A cascade of consequences followed. In recent weeks, Nobel laureate Richard Axel left the leadership of a research institute at Columbia University. Harvard University announced that former President Lawrence Summers, on leave from his teaching duties since November, would not return to the classroom. Bard College professors have called for a transition plan for the school’s president because of his ties to Epstein.
Why we wrote this
Prominent academics have resigned or are under investigation over details revealed by the latest release of the Epstein files. As more information about the deceased sex offender’s relationship with higher education comes to light, several institutions are tightening their fundraising practices.
Surfacing in the Epstein files is not an indication of criminal culpability. Dr. Axel called his affiliation with Mr. Epstein “a serious error of judgment.” Dr Summers also said he was “deeply ashamed”. Leon Botstein, Bard’s president, called his involvement with Mr. Epstein only “a fulfillment of my responsibilities as the college’s chief fundraiser.”
A common theme among professors and administrators caught in the web of the Epstein scandal revolves around the need for funding. The latest revelations about the records have prompted schools like Harvard and others to rethink how they engage with private donors. Higher education experts say change is needed across the board, not just at certain schools.
“It certainly highlighted the need for stronger donor screening policies,” says Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities and former president of Mount Holyoke College. “It requires a culture change. It requires faculty and administrators to be concerned about problem donors.”
Rethinking the donor model
There is usually a protocol by which schools seek out and accept large gifts. Most colleges or universities with research or advancement offices have clear guidelines regarding donor relations. One of the problems in the case of several faculty members involved with Mr. Epstein is that they were obtaining funding themselves.
“Going forward, faculty should work with campus fundraisers, the campus advancement division, to make sure they’re doing due diligence,” says Maria Vance, a senior director who researches fundraising at educational institutions at the consulting firm EAB.
The primary source of funding for academic research at American universities has traditionally been the federal government, with individual donors playing a lesser role. The most recent data from the US National Science Foundation shows that in 2023, 55% of university research was government funded. Individual donors, nonprofits and foreign governments together made up between 8% and 10%.
Yet for many university researchers, a large gift can make the difference between whether a project is funded or not. And faculty members who donate land are often celebrated by their schools, says Chris Lubienski, director of the Center for Educational Evaluation and Policy at Indiana University.
“Universities love it when someone is entrepreneurial and finds funding,” says Dr. Lubienski. “You have someone like Epstein, who is known to be rich and giving away money, and I’m not surprised that you have academics chasing his money.”
Mr. Epstein, who died in prison in what was officially ruled a suicide in 2019, made donations — sometimes through his charities — to several universities, including Harvard, the University of Arizona and the University of British Columbia, and also allegedly paid the tuition of several women. Some academics, including Bard’s Dr. Botstein, said the financier dangled funding offers without following through.
Investigations at Harvard and Beyond
According to the Harvard Crimson, Harvard has expanded its internal investigation to include professors and donors mentioned in the Epstein files. The university opened an investigation last November, after an initial batch of Epstein-related documents revealed more details about Dr. Summers.
The expanded investigation reportedly includes major university donors such as real estate moguls Andrew Farkas and Gerald Chan. Mr. Chan and his family gave Harvard its second-largest gift on record, $350 million for the TH Chan School of Public Health. He and Mr. Epstein had considered creating a branch of Tsinghua University based in Boston. Mr. Farkas chairs Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Institute, which received at least $375,000 from Mr. Epstein. The two exchanged thousands of emails and went on vacation together. Mr. Farkas told the New York Times that “at no time did I behave inappropriately.”
Harvard also placed mathematics professor Martin Nowak on paid administrative leave for the second time. Dr. Nowak received $6.5 million from Mr. Epstein to create the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, an institute studying evolution that the university closed in 2021. A 2020 university report found that the institute maintained an office for Mr. Epstein’s private use, and that he had access to the building by card and password.
A Harvard spokesperson referred the Monitor to a 2020 report that outlined updated guidelines for gifts after Mr. Epstein’s death.
These stricter policies include ensuring that development staff at each school report to central development staff. Previously, the development staff leaders of Harvard’s various colleges operated independently. And staff members are instructed to screen donors for criminal records and any negative media coverage.
Other schools are taking various measures.
MIT has established a Gift Acceptance Committee on which two faculty members will serve three-year terms to help evaluate all gifts. The school says it donated $850,000 received from Mr. Epstein to local nonprofits and has strengthened guidelines for faculty members who raise money outside of traditional means.
In February, Columbia reprimanded two people at the university’s dental school who allegedly helped a former girlfriend of Mr. Epstein circumvent admissions protocols to gain admission to the school.
“A student was admitted to the dental school through an irregular process, coinciding with fundraising solicitations by former scholars and former leaders of the school,” Columbia’s Office of Public Affairs said in a statement. The university said it had severed all ties with Thomas Magnani, a former faculty member, and removed faculty member Letty Moss-Salentijn from administrative duties.
Columbia also disclosed that it had received $210,000 “from entities linked to Epstein” and said the university would make two donations of $105,000 to New York nonprofits to support survivors of sexual abuse and human trafficking.
At Bard College, the Board of Trustees launched a study of Dr. Botstein in February. The review will include all of Dr. Botstein’s communications with Mr. Epstein, as well as any financial contributions related to him, according to Madalene Smith-Huemer, a spokeswoman for the communications firm hired by the board.
The board also retained the WilmerHale law firm to make recommendations “regarding our policies and practices regarding donor selection, fundraising, codes of conduct and conflicts of interest,” the board said in a statement.
